MS Senators skip second Medicaid expansion hearing four days ahead of deadline

Of the more than 60 people who showed up Thursday to witness Mississippi Senate and House Medicaid Conference Committee members negotiate for Medicaid expansion, the three Senate members were the only ones not to show.

"Thank you all for coming, and I'm sorry that we wasted your time today," House Medicaid Chairwoman Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, told attendees. "I was hoping that we would have the opportunity (to continue), but as you can see, and as I can see, the Senate conferees are not going to be able to make it today. So I'm disappointed in that."

Just two days after McGee offered an olive branch between two starkly different plans to expand Medicaid in Mississippi, Senate conference members Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, and Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, still have not offered their own solution. The deadline for the two parties to reach an agreement on the bill, House Bill 1725, is Monday, or it will die in conference.

After the meeting ended, Blackwell told the Clarion Ledger he and his fellow conferees are still mulling over McGee's suggestion, but he did not say why he and his Senate colleagues did not attend the meeting.

"We are working on the compromise that they asked," Blackwell said. "We are working on it."

The compromise she offered Tuesday is a Medicaid program that covers people ages 19 to 64 making up to 100% of the federal poverty line, or about $15,000 per year. People making between 100-138% FPL would be covered under the Federal Insurance Exchange, and the state would pick up the tab on copays, premiums and deductibles.

The cost the state would take on would be covered by a $600 million per year federal incentive Mississippi would receive for expanding Medicaid up to 138% FPL and require people to work 20 hours per week to qualify for either the 0-99% Medicaid coverage or state-reimbursed 100-138% federal exchange coverage rate. The plan could cover about 200,000 people, McGee said Tuesday.

In order to receive that federal match, lawmakers would have to expand up to 138% Federal Poverty Level. The Senate plan only expands the state's Medicaid program for those making less than 100% Federal Poverty Level and requires people to work about 30 hours per week.

The Senate's plan would cover possibly up to 80,000 people, Blackwell said.

The other stark difference between the two chambers' approaches lies in the fact that if the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services does not approve the work requirement, the House's plan would simply expand Medicaid anyway, while the Senate's plan for expansion would die then and there.

During the meeting McGee said she was disappointed by her colleagues in the Senate refusal to express their desire to continue negotiations for Medicaid expansion.

"We know that this is a historic piece of legislation, and possibly one of the biggest legislative priorities of the session," McGee said. "The leadership on both sides of the half of it, this capitalist said that this is a priority for them. So I'm hopeful that we will have more information to agree on a bill that we can present to the governor. And so I guess we'll just wait and see whether we can resume that conversation and

Rep. Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, had similar words, noting that lawmakers who say the state should be run like a business should treat the 90-10% program match the federal government is offering as a deal too sweet to pass up.

"It's disappointing that we're not continuing conversations today," said Creekmore, who also leads the House Public Health and Human Services Committee. "In the Public Health and Human Services Committee, we have entertained several people, many of whom are in this room, who come in and tell us how unhealthy Mississippi is, who come in and tell us how we don't have enough people to man clinics and the hospitals. We have the hospitals that are losing money every day. We can't sustain our hospitals in the Delta, and they're under a mandate to take care of these people… . Here we are, a chance to receive 90 cents on the dollar if we give 10 cents, and that's it. I don't know what businesses would not take that (deal)."

Lawmakers have until Monday to file a conference report detailing a compromise to legislation in conference. There are 10 days left in the 2024 session.

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 Medicaid expansion up in the air after Senators skip hearing Thursday