MS to Vote on Medicaid Expansion Plan  04/30 06:11

   

   JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Mississippi lawmakers are expected to vote this week 
on a proposal that would expand Medicaid coverage to tens of thousands more 
people, but it includes a work requirement that might not win federal approval.

   The state House and Senate passed separate expansion plans earlier this 
year. With the four-month legislative session pushing into its final days, 
negotiators from the two chambers submitted a compromise moments before a 
Monday night deadline. They declined to answer questions after emerging from a 
closed-door meeting, but the proposal was filed in legislative clerks' offices.

   The plan would require the new Medicaid recipients to be employed at least 
100 hours a month in a job that does not provide private health insurance. Or, 
they could fit into other categories, such as being a fulltime student or the 
parent of a child younger than 6.

   If the federal government rejects Mississippi's work requirement, the state 
Division of Medicaid would be required to continue seeking approval each year 
-- an acknowledgement that a different federal administration might provide a 
different decision.

   Georgia is the only state with a Medicaid work requirement, and it is suing 
the federal government to try to keep the mandate in place. The work 
requirement was approved by then-President Donald Trump's administration, but 
the Biden administration announced in December 2021 that it was revoking the 
approval. That prompted Georgia officials to sue.

   Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the U.S., and advocates say 
covering tens of thousands more people with Medicaid could help them manage 
chronic health conditions such as asthma and diabetes.

   The federal health overhaul signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2010 
allowed states to expand Medicaid, largely to people who work low-wage jobs 
without insurance. Mississippi is among the 10 states that have resisted 
expansion.

   Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has said for years that he does not want to put 
more Mississippi residents on government programs. But dynamics in the 
Republican-controlled Legislature changed this year with the selection of a new 
House speaker, Jason White, who said expansion could help some of Mississippi's 
financially struggling hospitals.

   The House voted by a wide bipartisan margin in late February to expand 
Medicaid coverage to about 200,000 people who earn up to 138% of the federal 
poverty level, or $20,120 annually for one person. Mississippi has about 3 
million residents, and its Medicaid program covered 374,823 people in March.

   In late March, the Senate passed its own pared-down version that would 
extend eligibility to people earning up to 100% of the federal poverty level, 
just over $15,000 for one person. Senate Medicaid Committee Chairman Kevin 
Blackwell, a Republican from Southaven, said about 80,000 people would become 
eligible for coverage but he thought about half that number would enroll.