JACKSON, Miss.—Bobby Ginn, the adjutant general for the Mississippi National Guard, has been trying to get paid healthcare for his soldiers for at least 20 years.
That goal is now realized. Gov. Tate Reeves signed S.B. 2018 into law on March 13, which made Mississippi the third state to pay for Tricare insurance premiums for members of the National Guard, joining Maryland and Tennessee.
Mississippi has 12,000 National Guard members, and a large number of those servicemen did not have health insurance due to the cost, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann told reporters on Jan. 12. To receive state-funded health insurance under S.B. 2018, participants must be active-drilling members of the National Guard and must not receive health insurance from another insurer.
Ginn told reporters back on Jan. 12 that the 54 adjutant generals around the U.S. talk about improving healthcare and mental health for servicemembers each week. The general sat in the Mississippi Senate’s gallery on Jan. 12 as the Senate voted to approve reimbursing healthcare premiums for their Tricare Reserve Select insurance plans.
Tricare is the health insurance coverage plan for active members of the military and National Guard. Having the State reimburse their health insurance is one of the best ways to retain and recruit National Guard members, Ginn said.
“As we go forward and we have servicemen and women that have 10 to 12 years of service and part of retaining them, we have spent monies on them to train them to get to that level,” he told reporters on Jan. 12. “This will help them decide as to whether they want to extend their enlistment another 6 to 8 years—which, that helps us because we’ve got that expertise that we’re keeping inside the Mississippi National Guard.”
Mississippi Senate Veterans and Military Affairs Chairman Sen. Jeff Tate, R-Meridian, sponsored the legislation. He emphasized the importance of servicemembers having access to quality physical and mental healthcare.
“We had a task force earlier in the day that met and talked about how you have these 20-something-year-old soldiers that just say as far as health insurance is concerned, they’re not worried about it,” he told reporters on Jan. 12. “And the mental help that they can get with having this Tricare will be tremendous in just that: mental health for our soldiers.”
Mississippi’s general fund will pay $4 million to cover health insurance premiums for the National Guard, committing $645 to each service member, Hosemann said.
“We wanted to show a commitment of $645 per person for every one of these soldiers, men and women that are defending our country, and you only have to look at recent events to see how important the Army is to the United States of America,” Hosemann told reporters on Jan. 12.
The Senate voted 50-1 on Jan. 12 to pay for National Guard members’ healthcare. Senate Education Committee Chairman Sen. Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, and Senate Drug Policy Committee Chairwoman Sen. Angela Turner-Ford, D-West Point, did not vote. The House passed the bill by a 121-0 vote on March 4. Rep. Celeste Hurst, R-Sandhill, did not vote.
