JACKSON, Miss.— Medicaid expansion is increasingly unlikely to become law in Mississippi this year amid uncertainty over the Trump administration’s approach to the issue. The U.S. Senate has still has not confirmed Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Still, even though the deadline for lawmakers to introduce new bills has already passed, legislation is available that could serve as a vehicle for lawmakers to insert Medicaid expansion language into should things change before the legislative session ends on April 6.
“We still have the code sections alive. (We’re) waiting to see what we get out of D.C., if there’s any information, because we know there’s going to be a lot of changes. But I just don’t know that we’ll get that information in the time before we adjourn,” Mississippi House Rep. Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, told the Mississippi Free Press on Feb. 20.
The Mississippi House and Senate both passed versions of Medicaid expansion plans in 2024 to provide health-care coverage for around 200,000 working Mississippians while receiving around $1 billion annually in funding from the federal government for the program. The two houses disagreed over plans to implement a work requirement for Mississippians who would qualify for expanded Medicaid coverage since the Biden administration was unlikely to allow the work requirements.
The House was more lenient with its proposed work requirement, and McGee said at the time that she would be willing to remove it if necessary. However, the Senate and Mississippi Senate Medicaid Committee Chairman Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, were unwilling to pass a bill without a strict work requirement.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann told reporters on May 2, 2024, that Medicaid expansion would have to wait for Trump to become president because his administration would be more likely to accept work requirements, which he approved for some states during his first term. The Medicaid expansion bills died at the end of the 2024 Legislative session.
Trump was inaugurated just over a month ago, but Medicaid expansion appears unlikely without a confirmed leader for CMS. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is expected to hold a confirmation hearing for Oz, though it has not set a date.
“I just don’t think the timing is going to be right, but we have vehicles there should something happen; we can suspend the rules and go back,” Mississippi Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, told the Mississippi Free Press on Feb. 24.
If the Senate confirms Oz to lead CMS, he would have authority over Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which combined cover more than 160 million Americans.
CMS has a $1.1 trillion budget and more than 6,000 employees. The agency decides the Medicare payment rates for doctors, hospitals, labs and service providers, which serve as a model for private insurers’ payment levels. CMS also implements service policies for health-care providers.
Mississippi House Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, criticized Mississippi Republicans for continuing to deny Mississippians expanded access to Medicaid while the federal government aims to reduce Medicaid spending.
Without Medicaid expansion, Mississippi will spend $845.8 million on its Medicaid budget and receive $7.2 billion from the federal government to fund the program. But President Donald Trump supports the U.S. House Republicans’ proposal to cut $880 billion from federal Medicaid funding nationwide, which could leave Mississippi “on its knees,” Scott said at a House Democratic Caucus press conference at the Mississippi Capitol on Feb. 25.
“Health care is a human right; it’s not a privilege. And in Mississippi, where we are the poorest and the sickest of Americans, health care ought to be really at the height of our concern. But as you know, Mississippi has refused to expand the Medicaid program,” she said at a House Democratic Caucus press conference on Feb. 25.
