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More than 30,000 state and public school employees received letters this week informing them their medications will no longer be covered under the state’s prescription drug program as of July 1 — the results of an effort by state leaders to save money.

A little-known board comprised of 14 state government leaders voted in August 2021 to make the changes to the prescription plan, according to meeting minutes. A spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration said the change was made after COVID-19 caused an increase in costs. The change will save the state an estimated $15 to $18 million, according to DFA.

Earlier this year, lawmakers appropriated $60 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to the plan to offset COVID-related losses. 

Almost 197,000 state employees, dependents, spouses and retirees receive state health insurance benefits. The health benefits are administered by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, and CVS Caremark is the pharmacy benefit manager for the prescription drug program. 

“This is a way to curb those costs and continue to provide excellent coverage to state employees,” DFA spokesperson Marcy Scoggins said in an emailed statement. “An external advisory board of doctors and pharmacists recommends to CVS Caremark what (medication) substitutions are allowed. In the majority of cases, the substitute has the same efficacy at a lower cost.”

But some covered by the plan don’t believe the substitute medicine CVS Caremark suggested for them will work and feel that the state is inserting itself between them and their doctor.

One school administrator, who did not want her name used because of her employment, received a letter about medication she began taking several months ago for a thyroid condition. Her plan would no longer cover it beginning July 1, the letter from CVS Caremark and DFA stated. 

The medicine, Armour Thyroid, costs about $100 a bottle. She was previously paying a $25 copay. 

“When they change medicines like that, you have to start the process all over and go through, ‘Well this dosage is not enough, this dosage is too much,’ and have your levels drawn every so often,” she said. 

She said she doesn’t understand why anyone besides her doctor is dictating what medicine she should take.

“I’m just aggravated. It’s like they think they know better than what my doctor knows,” she said.  

A teacher, who did not want her name used in a story for fear of retribution, first received a notice from CVS Caremark dated May 11 that Ozempic, her medicine for insulin resistance, will no longer be covered. The company wrote that “… starting July 1, 2022, you’ll have to change to a preferred medication.”

The preferred medicine listed was metformin, but she has already been taking that medication for nearly a decade, she said.

“On metformin alone, we weren’t having any success … so (the doctor) said, ‘Let’s try this,’ and it was like magic,” she said, referring to the once-weekly injectable Ozempic.

The retail price for the drug is around $1,000. With insurance coverage, the teacher currently pays a $25 copay. 

After talking to her doctor about submitting a prior authorization form – which the company could then approve or deny and continue covering the Ozempic – she got another letter the following week.

“Starting July 1, 2022, there will be a limit on the amount of medication that your plan will cover. Once you reach the limit, you will have to pay the entire cost for additional medication which exceeds the limit,” the May 17 letter stated. 

The limited amount covers what she takes, but she says she’s still a bit confused. 

“I’m scared that they will jerk the rug out from under me mid-year and send another letter saying my medication won’t be covered,” she said. 

An employee at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, who also did not want her name used because of her job, has been using Synthroid for 10 years since having her thyroid removed. She’s tried the generic that CVS Caremark has suggested for her, but it doesn’t work. 

“We tried all different types of replacement hormones and different doses, and I’m now stable on one, and I don’t want to change again,” she said. “It just seems flippant to me that they assume everyone can switch from Synthroid to the generic.” 

She said she plans to try to qualify for a special savings program with the company. If that fails, she plans to talk to a friend whose doctor orders the drug from a Canadian pharmacy at a less expensive price.  

The last time similar changes were made to state employees’ prescription coverage was in 2019, according to DFA. DFA did not answer follow-up questions from Mississippi Today about how many people were affected and the amount of money saved that year.

The state health insurance plan’s reserves have dwindled from $274 million in 2015 to $113 million in 2020, according to a presentation made by Cindy Bradshaw, state insurance administrator, to the Senate Education Committee in September 2021.

Drug claims have increased every year in that same time period except for one, with the most recent increase of 5% occurring in 2020.

The post 30,000 state employees, teachers poised to lose name-brand prescription coverage under state plan appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A three-judge federal panel that has been overseeing the redistricting of Mississippi’s congressional seats since the early 2000s has declined to rule on whether the state’s four newly drawn U.S. House districts are constitutional.

Judges E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. 5th Circuit and David Bramlette of the Southern District of Mississippi refused to rule on the argument made by the NAACP and other groups that the four new districts are racially gerrymandered and dilute the voting strength of African Americans.

The third member of the panel, Judge Henry T. Wingate of the Southern District of Mississippi, said the majority was “shirking” its responsibility by not hearing the case. Wingate also wrote separately that he did not totally discount the arguments of racial gerrymandering.

But Wingate said, “It is this judge’s view … that the citizens of Mississippi will be better served by giving their elected representatives the chance to revisit these issues in the upcoming 2023 legislative session.”

Additionally, the judges opted to end the panel’s oversight of the state’s U.S. House elections altogether.

READ MORE: Mississippi NAACP questions constitutionality of redistricting plan

Jolly and Bramlette said their ruling did not prevent the NAACP and others from filing a separate lawsuit arguing the plan approved by the Legislature in January and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves is unconstitutional because of the alleged racial gerrymandering.

But in the meantime, elections are slated to go forward this year under the plan approved by the Legislature. The primary elections are scheduled for June 7 with the general election set for November.

All of the judges agreed that the elections should not be postponed.

The NAACP, One Voice, Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute and other organizations wanted the three-judge panel to halt the use of the legislative plan and instead use a plan proposed by the NAACP or instead develop its own plan. The Mississippi Republican Party and others had argued that the legislative plan is constitutional, but they wanted the judges to find the plan constitutional before relinquishing their jurisdiction of the case.

The three-judge panel initially drew a congressional map for the state after the 2000 U.S. Census when the Legislature could not agree on a redistricting plan. The state lost a congressional district based on the results of the 2000 Census because of slow population growth.

Then in 2011, the three-judge panel again redrew the districts to adhere to population shifts found by the 2010 Census after the Legislature again was unable to agree on a congressional map.

The Legislature did agree on a plan after the 2020 Census, though every African American state lawmaker in both the House and Senate voted against it.

READ MORE: Lawmakers redraw congressional districts for first time since early 1990s

Under the plan approved by the Legislature, Congressional District 2, the state’s only Black majority district, will run nearly the entire western length of the state with Adams, Amite, Franklin and Walthall counties in southwest Mississippi being added to the district. The district will extend from Tunica in northwest Mississippi to the Louisiana-Mississippi border in southwest Mississippi. The only county that borders the Mississippi River not in the district is heavily Republican DeSoto County.

District 2 is the only one of the state’s four congressional districts to lose population since 2010 — more than 9%, or about 65,000 people.

District 2 incumbent Rep. Bennie Thompson, the state’s lone African American and Democratic member of the congressional delegation, supported the NAACP proposal to make District 2 more compact with a smaller Black majority than in the legislative plan. The NAACP argued under its plan an African American candidate could still be elected in the 2nd District while allowing Black voters to have more of an impact in other districts in the state.

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The Southeastern Conference long has cast a huge shadow over the sports world in these parts in any given season. But consider this: In college baseball this season, Mississippi State came in as the defending National Champion. Ole Miss was ranked No. 1 in the early season. That’s not a shadow, that’s more like a black out. 

And it’s nothing new for Southern Miss, which has long struggled for attention in its own state, even while playing quality baseball season after season after season. 

Given that, here’s a little what many might not know…

Did you know that this spring marks the sixth straight season during which the Golden Eagles have won at least 40 games or more? It’s true. Southern Miss is one of only two Division I teams in the nation to have won at least 40 games for six straight seasons (Dallas Baptist is the other).

And did you know that this season Scott Berry became the winningest coach in the school’s long-successful baseball history? He did. When the Eagles defeated UAB on May 1, it was Berry’s 469th victory as head coach in only his 12th full season. You can do the math, but that’s really close to 40 wins per. And consider this: Berry’s three predecessors — Pete Taylor, Hill Denson and Corky Palmer — have all been selected to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Note to MSHOF selection committee: Reserve a spot for Berry, a nice guy who never finishes anywhere close to last.

Did you know Southern Miss finished the regular season with a 41-14 record, including a sparkling 23-7 record in Conference USA, the nation’s fifth highest rated baseball league? The Eagles did, finishing three games clear of second place Louisiana Tech, another terrific college baseball program that struggles for attention in its own state.

Did you know over Berry’s 12 seasons, Southern Miss has battled in-state rivals Ole Miss and Mississippi State on nearly even terms — 12-10 vs. Ole Miss, 8-12 vs. State?

Did you know Southern Miss pitching ranks second in the nation (to Tennessee) in earned run average, giving up only a tad over three earned runs per nine innings?

Did you know Golden Eagle pitching ranks second (to Florida State) in the nation in strikeouts with 623? That’s 11.3 per nine innings if you are keeping score.

Did you know Southern Miss sophomore right-hander Tanner Hall, awarded on Monday the Boo Ferriss Trophy, finished the regular season with 120 strikeouts and only 10 walks? He did and those numbers are insane — second best in the nation. The last pitcher to win the Boo was Golden Eagle Nick Sandlin in 2018. He now pitches for the Cleveland Indians.

Did you know Southern Miss pitching ranks second in the nation (again, to Tennessee) in strikeouts-to-walks ratio, finishing just .03 percentage points behind the Vols? (Yes, pitching coach and associate head coach Christian Ostrander deserves huge credit for all those amazing pitching numbers.)

Did you know Southern Miss had won a school record 15 consecutive games before Reece Ewing and Slade Wilkes, two left-handed sluggers (the No. 3 and No. 5 hitters in the lineup) suffered injuries that caused them both to miss time? Did you know that during the games that Ewing played this season, Southern Miss was an even more impressive 37-9?

Did you know Southern Miss shattered attendance records at Pete Taylor Park this season, breaking season ticket sales record by nearly 1,000 and averaging 4,771 per game? That was 10th the nation and No. 1 among non-power five conference teams.

Strange as it sounds, Berry’s Southern Miss program has gained more respect nationally than it has in its home state. It’s true. The Golden Eagles reached a No. 4 ranking nationally before Ewing and Wilkes were injured. DI Baseball currently ranks the Golden Eagles 14th in the nation. Respected national publications have all predicted Southern Miss will host an NCAA Regional with as high as a No. 9 national seed.

All those are reasons why Berry’s ball club this spring has emerged, at least briefly, from the SEC’s long shadow. It remains to be seen how far these Eagles can fly. Next step: the CUSA Tournament, which the top-seeded Eagles will host beginning Wednesday at Pete Taylor Park.

No predictions here other than when it comes to NCAA Tournament baseball, teams with the deepest pitching staffs normally have a distinct advantage. Southern Miss has the deepest pitching staff in the school’s history. In this case, the numbers do not lie.

The post Southern Miss baseball reaping rewards of record-breaking season appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi lawmakers rubber-stamped a pay raise Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Randolph gave to himself and other state judges last year and provided judges an additional pay raise during the completed 2022 session.

House Bill 1423, passed during the 2022 session and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves, puts into law the pay raise that was enacted early in 2021 by the chief justice. In addition, the legislation provides additional salary increases for the state’s nine Supreme Court justices, 10 Court of Appeals judges, 57 circuit judges and 52 chancellors starting Jan. 1, 2023.

The pay raise for Randolph goes from $174,000 annually to $181,490. The other pay raises starting in 2023 are:

• Presiding justices on the Supreme Court from $169,500 to $176,737.
• Associate justices on the Supreme Court from $166,500 to $173,800.

The chief judge for the Court of Appeals, starting in 2023, will receive a raise of $7,849 to $169,349, while the associate judges will get a pay increase of $9,967 to $168,467.

The districtwide trial court judges, both circuit and chancery, will receive an increase of $9,000 to $158,000 starting in 2023.

The pay raises slated to begin on Jan. 1 are in addition to the salary increases Randolph awarded to the judges early in 2021.

Before enacting the pay raise in 2021, Randolph wrote a letter in December 2020 informing state Personnel Board Executive Director Kelly Hardwick that he was authorizing a $15,000 pay raise for himself to bring his salary to $174,000 annually and awarded similar salary increases for other members of the state’s judiciary. 

While most elected officials in Mississippi have their salaries set by the Legislature — traditionally the only governmental body with the power to appropriate money — a provision in a 2012 law apparently gives the Supreme Court chief justice the power to raise salaries of the judiciary without legislative approval.

READ MORE: Supreme Court chief quietly gave pay raise to himself and other judges without legislative approval

At the time Randolph enacted the salary increase, some legislators questioned his authority to enact the pay raise. But during the 2022 session, the Legislature did not change the law to ensure that the chief justice could not enact similar raises in the future. Instead, the Legislature put those pay raises Randolph enacted in 2021 into law and provided the additional pay raises starting in 2023.

The 2022 legislation also provides a pay raise for district attorneys from $125,900 to $134,400 starting Jan. 1.

In addition to providing the power to raise judiciary salaries, the 2012 legislation, authored by then-House Judiciary A Chair Mark Baker, R-Brandon, also increased the fees on various court filings — such as the fee to file a civil lawsuit or on the levies in criminal proceedings — to help pay for the salary increases. Some argued at the time the increase on the various court filings was equivalent to a tax increase for those who use the courts. But then-Chief Justice William Waller Jr., who advocated for the 2012 legislation, said judges at the time desperately needed a pay increase and he was trying to be responsible by providing a method to pay for it.

During the 2022 session, legislators also provided significant pay raises for other state elected officials.

The post Chief Justice Randolph gave state judges a pay raise, then lawmakers gave them another appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Ken Newburger, executive director and founder of the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association, gives an update on Mississippi’s fledgling medical cannabis program, which was passed into law by the state Legislature in February. Newburger said it will probably be late this year or early next year before patients can receive medical marijuana.

The post Podcast: When can Mississippians get medical marijuana? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Putting investigators to work.

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“There are harmonica players and then there is Scott Albert Johnson… One of the best harp players in the world.” — Cashbox Music Reviews

Mississippi Today’s Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with singer, songwriter and musician Scott Albert Johnson. Born in Jackson, Scott Albert Johnson moved around the U.S. before putting down roots back in Mississippi. A graduate of Harvard and Columbia, Johnson shares stories about his time as a kicker and then how his career as a musician took off. Ramsey and Johnson talk creativity, dreams and how to achieve them. Johnson also tells how to achieve balance in life rooted in family, friends and music.

The post Mississippi Stories: Scott Albert Johnson appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Republicans have a reasonable chance of increasing their much ballyhooed super majorities, at least in the Mississippi House, in the 2023 elections based on the redrawing of the legislative districts earlier this year.

It might be more difficult for Republicans to increase their numbers in the Senate than in the House. Currently, 36 of the Senate’s 52 members and 77 of the House’s 122 members are Republican.

Not so long ago, there was a belief that a Democrat had at least an even-money chance of winning a white majority Mississippi legislative district with an African American population of 35% or more.

That most likely is no longer even money. Democrats have not been able to win statewide races in recent years even though the state’s African American population is about 38%. Elections in Mississippi have become increasingly more polarized with white voters supporting Republicans and Black voters backing Democrats.

Despite that polarization making Republican majorities near inevitable, the Republican leadership has not provided many opportunities to garner evidence of whether Democrats can still win in legislative districts with Black population of at least 35%, but less than a majority. They have not drawn many districts meeting that criteria.

The redistricting plan drawn earlier his year for the 122-member House has two white majority districts with African American population of more than 35%, and both of those are barely above that threshold. Two more districts are just below 35%.

It is worth noting that in 2011, when Democrats still controlled the House, they drew a plan with 13 districts with a Black population of more than 35% but less than a majority. But that plan was never enacted. The Senate controlled by Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant refused to take it up for a vote, violating the custom of each chamber rubber stamping the plan of the other house.

In the 52-member Senate, there were six districts with Black populations of more than 35% but less than a majority before this year’s redistricting. After redistricting there are four.

Carroll Rhodes, a Hazlehurst attorney and veteran of many redistricting battles, says the NAACP and other groups are still deciding whether to file a lawsuit challenging the redistricting maps approved this session on the grounds they dilute Black voter strength.

“There are additional districts to be created for Black voters to elect candidates of their choice,” Rhodes said recently.

Rhodes and other civil rights attorneys believe strongly that districts should be drawn in such a manner to ensure that they represent the racial demographics of the state. Under the current plan, 29% of the Senate districts and 34% of the House districts are Black majority. Based on the 2020 U.S. Census, the state’s African American and partially African American population is 38%, while the white population is 59%.

Rhodes added, though, that the districts should not be drawn in such a manner “to pack Black voters” — 75%, 80% or more in many instances — into districts to prevent them from having influence in other districts.

He believes that is what the House and Senate did in the redistricting plan drawn in the 2022 legislative session.

There are currently two white Democrats in the House representing white majority districts. District 33, represented by Democrat Tommy Reynolds, has a Black population of about 44%, perhaps ideal for a rural white Democrat. Reynolds is not running for re-election and his district is being moved to the fast growing Gulf Coast where it will have a Black population of about 25%.

The other white Democrat from a white majority district in the House, Tom Miles of Forest, is something of an anomaly. He was elected from a district with a Black population of about 26%. His new district will have similar demographics, but the Republican House leadership is moving his district partially into more Republican friendly Madison County.

Miles has hung on despite long odds in past elections.

The upcoming 2023 elections will determine whether he can do it again or whether his new district will result in more growth for the Republican supermajority.

Based on the 2022 redistricting effort, there is a possibility after the 2023 elections that there will not be any white Democrats in the House representing white majority districts.

In the Senate, Hob Bryan, D-Amory, is currently the lone white Democrat representing a white majority district. Bryan’s new district actually will be slightly more advantageous to his re-election effort in terms of having a higher percentage of Black voters.

After the 2023 elections, Bryan could be the only legislator left standing, re-enforcing that old belief that Democrats have a good chance of winning white majority districts with African American populations of at least 35%.

Perhaps Democrats can find candidates to prove these numbers wrong in 2023.

The post Redistricting gives Republicans chance to increase legislative super majorities appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A pair of letters sent earlier this month by the Institutions of Higher Learning commissioner shed light on the recent controversial policy changes that faculty fear will make it harder to get and keep tenure at Mississippi universities. 

In the letters, Commissioner Alfred Rankins addressed concerns that the new standards IHL added to its tenure policies, like “collegiality,” could be used by university presidents to discriminate against politically outspoken faculty or faculty members of color. 

Rankins wrote that IHL thinks the new policies are “improvements to prior policy language.” Though teaching, research and service are still the main factors, Rankins wrote the board believes that standards like collegiality are valid and legal for university presidents to consider and don’t infringe on the constitutional rights of faculty in Mississippi. 

“There is no prior evidence to suggest these terms have quashed academic freedom or faculty individual rights within our system of universities,” Rankins wrote. “In reviewing your concerns, I must point out that almost any criterion commonly used in evaluating faculty for tenure could be used by a bad actor as a pretext for denying tenure for impermissible reasons.”

“However, that does not mean that the criterion is not an appropriate and valuable point of consideration as part of the tenure attainment process,” he added. 

Rankins sent the letters, which are similar, on May 9 and May 10 in reply to inquiries from faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi as well as two national nonprofits, PEN America and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. 

“I want to assure you that the protection of our employees’ constitutional rights is of utmost importance to us,” he wrote to both groups. 

Jeremy Young, the senior manager for free expression and education for PEN America, told Mississippi Today that he was not assured. Young said Rankins’ letter made him more concerned about the new policies. The organizations told Rankins as much earlier this week in a reply to his letter. 

“Your response assuages none of the academic freedom or free expression concerns in our original letter, and in fact strongly suggests the IHL Board of Governors neither understands the concept of academic freedom nor recognizes its central importance to the health of higher education,” the organizations wrote back on May 18. 

PEN America and FIRE pushed back on Rankins’ assertion that there is no evidence IHL’s policies have violated academic freedom. They wrote that IHL and university presidents have appeared to use the tenure policies to target outspoken faculty in several cases, including in 2019 when several board members voted to deny University of Mississippi sociology professor James Thomas because they did not like some of his tweets. 

Faculty are “justified in interpreting the new policy as more than an idle threat,” the organizations wrote. 

IHL’s new policies gave the university presidents the final say on approving tenure applications. Previously, the board approved tenure. IHL also added new criteria for university presidents to use to determine whether to grant tenure, including a faculty member’s “collegiality,” “effectiveness, accuracy and integrity in communications,” and “contumacious conduct,” a factor that was previously only included in the board’s tenure dismissal policy. 

Faculty say these new terms will weaken tenure in Mississippi by providing university presidents a guise to dismiss outspoken or marginalized faculty. Tenure is meant to ensure that faculty are only dismissed for cause. 

But IHL never gave faculty an opportunity to have formal input on the new policies. When the trustees approved the tenure policies at its April meeting, they did so without discussion. The board did discuss the policies at its March board meeting, but the proposed revisions were not included on the agenda. The March meeting was held at Mississippi State University Riley Center in Meridian, an hour-and-a-half away from the complex where the board typically meets in Jackson, and was not live-streamed. 

IHL’s April vote came as faculty were in the middle of the most hectic time of year, reading essays and submitting final grades. At University of Southern Mississippi, members of the faculty senate met with President Rodney Bennett to ask him about the new policy. 

Shortly after, Brian LaPierre, the president of USM’s faculty senate, wrote a letter on May 3 asking Commissioner Rankins to clarify the new policies. 

“This is intended to give you a sense of the confusion, anxiety, and dismay that these policies — and the lack of information and context accompanying them — have created in our campus community,” LaPierre wrote. 

LaPierre appended a number of questions about the new policies: What prompted IHL to revise its tenure policies? Why weren’t faculty consulted? Is IHL concerned the policies “will impact the ability of our universities to recruit and retain talented faculty and students, as well as promote research in Mississippi?” 

Rankins did not address these questions in his reply. He defended the new criteria, particularly collegiality, as a standard that is legal to consider in granting tenure and wrote that “effectiveness, accuracy, and integrity in communications are important components of effective teaching and learning.” 

The changes are already having ripple effects. Under the old policies, most of the universities submitted tenure applications for the IHL to approve at its May board meeting. That didn’t happen this year because IHL’s changes went into effect immediately after the April vote. 

Now some of the universities are working to figure out if they need to retroactively consider collegiality for the tenure applications they had expected the IHL board to approve this month. At USM, Denis Wiesenburg, a member of the faculty senate executive committee, said the university is sending tenure applicants back to the school level to ensure faculty members are evaluated under the new standards. 

“It’s created chaos,” Wiesenburg said. “The amount of administrative burden that the IHL has added at the worst time of year.” 

At a University of Mississippi faculty senate meeting earlier this month, Chancellor Glenn Boyce and Provost Noel Wilkin assured faculty that everyone who was up for tenure this year would be approved. 

Wilkin also told the faculty that the chief academic officers had met prior to the board meeting but did not discuss the tenure policies, which indicated to him that none of the provosts were aware of the changes.  

Boyce, who served as commissioner from 2015 to 2018, said he had “known for awhile” that IHL was considering changing its tenure and presidential search policies, but that he did not know the board was going to make the revisions this year. 

“They had these two policies on their mind when I was commissioner,” Boyce said. “They just never formally sat down like they did this time around.” 

“Needless to say, we got no advance notice of the changes,” he added. “We had no advance notice this was gonna be on the agenda and had no opportunity to provide input. Hopefully that’ll help you understand what we knew and when we knew it.”

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