Mississippi Senate Medicaid expansion bill would reduce number of people it would benefit
A Mississippi Senate Committee moved forward an amended Medicaid expansion bill Wednesday that seeks to provide free healthcare to about 80,000 of the state's poorest working people.
Medicaid Committee Chairman Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, told the Clarion Ledger after the meeting that he brought out House Bill 1725 only to cut some of its key provisions and replace them with a "conservative version."
"It's significantly different," Blackwell said. "We have a conservative plan over here. The House Bill was basically straight up expansion. I'd say it's expansion lite."
The version of HB 1725 that was originally passed in the House would have possibly allowed for about 200,000 of the state's working poor to receive Medicaid benefits.
What does the Senate's version of Medicaid expansion do exactly?
The bill passed through Blackwell's committee Wednesday afternoon would designate the Mississippi Division of Medicaid to request a 120 hours per month work requirement waiver from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS is unlikely to approve the waiver, as it has denied other states the same request.
Expand Medicaid to people with a 6-year-old child or younger and adults who care for a child, parent or spouse already on Medicaid.
Require MDM to review patient eligibility in the state's Medicaid program once every three months.
Cover people who make no more than 99% of the federal poverty line, which is less than $15,000 per year for one person. Those eligible also include full-time students or people in a workforce training program, and those who physically or mentally unfit to meet the aforementioned requirements.
In the Senate version, the federal government would pay 77% of the state's cost to maintain Medicaid services, and the state would pay 23%.
To help pay for the heightened cost of implementing the program, the state would tax care providers and hospitals on their increased revenues resulting from expanding Medicaid.
People who disenroll from private insurance providers would have to wait one year before being eligible for the state's Medicaid program.
The bill will also leave the health insurance, which is an online marketplace that offers federally subsidized plans to people who make between 100% and 138% of the federal poverty line, alone.
If CMS does not accept the work requirement, the bill states that the state would not expand Medicaid at all.
See House Medicaid expansion version Mississippi House passes state's first Medicaid expansion bill
What do lawmakers think?
Rep. Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, who wrote HB 1725's original version and was present at the Senate Medicaid Committee meeting, declined to comment on Blackwell's version.
Others were not so quiet.
Democratic Senators Bradford Blackmon, John Horhn and David Blount, representing Lexington and Jackson, questioned why the Senate version expanded Medicaid for far less people than the House's version.
"My concern is that for those people even if they are working, this product, they wouldn't be eligible at all under your amendment," Blount said. "You would not want to have two free years of Medicaid expansion (under the House plan), and after that a 90% match for a program that the state economist has said is a net economic benefit to this state. You would choose the lesser match to insure fewer people at a reduced economic impact."
Horhn even offered two amendments that would have changed the amount of time MDM qualified Medicaid eligibility from quarterly to twice a year, and one to reduce the required working hours to enroll from 120 per month to 20 hours a week. Both measures would in theory expand eligibility from Blackwell's estimated 80,000 people.
"We say we are trying to get to the working poor, and we have some almost 300,000 who are characterized as being the working poor without health insurance, some of whom are working two and three jobs, and if we are only doing 100% of the federal poverty level, versus the House position of 138%, which would cover a lot more people who are in the working poor category, why wouldn't we do the (that)?"
Both amendments failed on a vote of 6-4.
After the meeting, Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, told reporters she supports the bill and believes it will at least help to provide those 80,000 people with free healthcare.
"I think the Senate is really dedicated to looking for a solution for working Mississippians and we have looked at bills across the country, we've looked at legislation across the country, and we feel like this is the best path to help are working Mississippians," she said.
Gov. Tate Reeves opposes Senate's "conservative" Medicaid bill
Despite Blackwell's efforts to create a more palatable version of expanding Medicaid to, Republicans, it would appear that Gov. Tate Reeves is still utterly opposed to any ideas of expanding Medicaid.
In his written dissent on X, formerly known as Twitter, Reeves said he specifically opposed parts of the bill that would expand Medicaid to those who are physically or mentally unable to work even though a licensed physician must deem them so, give parents of children less than 6 years old benefits and people who qualify as a caregivers.
"The Devil is always in the details, and the details prove that this Senate bill is not for the “working poor.” It is welfare expansion to those able-bodied adults that could work but choose not to," Reeves wrote.
What happens next with Mississippi Medicaid expansion?
The bill will now move onto the Senate floor for a vote.
If passed, it will be sent back to the House where the chamber will either agree to concur with the changes made or deny them, sending the bill to a conference of lawmakers from both the House and Senate for further consideration.
Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS Senate considering Medicaid expansion but will help fewer people
