Mississippi is one of 12 states that have not approved expanding Medicaid coverage to the working poor under the Affordable Care Act. Efforts to pass Medicaid expansion in the state legislature failed, as Republican leadership has been adamantly opposed to any Medicaid expansion. Tim Moore, President of the Mississippi Hospital Association, says half of the rural hospitals in Mississippi are in jeopardy because of unpaid hospital bills. He says expanding Medicaid could save the state around $800 million dollars over two years, and help keep more rural hospitals from closing their doors.
"So that alone would pay for the expansion for the project for over seven years. So the economic stimulus that comes into pumping in a billion dollars a year into your state economy is exponential," says Moore.
Moore says the federal government would pay for 90% of the program, and the state legislature would determine how to pay for the other 10%.
Some children in Mississippi qualify for Medicaid, but their parents may not have access to health coverage. That's according to Dr. John Gaudet, a pediatrician in Hattiesburg who filed the ballot initiative with the Secretary of State's Office. He says many of his patients live in rural areas and don't have access to a nearby hospital for emergency care.
"You don't need to be driving 60, 70 miles to go to the emergency room. And these rural hospitals have to be able to take care of the patients in their communities," says Dr. Gaudet. "And Medicaid expansion will help them be able to do that because they'll be taking care of fewer patients that are uninsured and they'll be able to get reimbursed for the care that they're already delivering."
Advocates must collect more than 106 thousand signatures to have the initiative appear on the November ballot next year.
