Low-income Mississippi residents could benefit from the U.S. Congressional Democrats’ plan to seek new ways to offer health insurance for them.
The lawmakers are considering a way to provide insurance for those who have been denied coverage because of the refusal of the state’s political leadership to expand Medicaid. They plan to provide health care coverage to people who are making $12,880 per year or less in the12 primarily Southern states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which includes Mississippi.
“The problem is the 12 states that refuse to expand, despite overwhelming evidence of the benefits of expansion of coverage to people, state budgets and health care providers,” Judith Solomon, a health policy analyst with the Washington-based Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, told Mississippi Today. “Given it’s been seven years since expansion took effect and huge financial incentives in the American Rescue Plan Act haven’t moved any states into the expansion column, this is the only way to get coverage to those who have been left out.”
According to studies, 200,000 and 300,000 primarily employed Mississippi residents could qualify for coverage, if the state would expand Medicaid, according to Mississippi Today.
If Mississippi expanded Medicaid, the federal government would pay 90% of the health care costs.
Some have argued, including Gov. Tate Reeves (R), that Mississippi can't afford to expand Medicaid, Mississippi Today reported. However, multiple studies have shown that expanding Medicaid would actually increase state revenue collections.
