MS Free Press: “More than five decades later, 300 members of the Mississippi clergy invoked that tradition of solidarity and acknowledged the still-unfinished work when they hosted a press conference in conjunction with Working Together Mississippi to unveil a letter expressing their discontent with the Mississippi Legislature’s seven-year inaction regarding Medicaid expansion.
The letter also endorses the Mississippi Cares plan, a version of Medicaid reform initiated by the Mississippi Hospital Association that is intended to provide health-care coverage for working-class Mississippians who currently fall into the “gap” between traditional Medicaid coverage and private health-care plans.
In this year’s legislative session alone, eight bills with the power to expand health-care access to working Mississippians died in committee, and the amendment to Senate Bill 2799 failed, too, voted down along party lines after McDaniel’s warning that passing the amendment would imbalance the state budget.
For Working Together Mississippi organizer Chevon Chatman, arguments for protecting state coffers no longer hold water, as 90% of the funding for Mississippi Cares would come from the federal government, with the Mississippi Hospital Association footing the bill for the remaining 10%.”