Will state lawmakers pass legislation to expand Medicaid?
In February, the House passed its version of a Medicaid expansion bill.
That legislation now resides in the Senate.
Initially, the legislators in that chamber wanted to craft its version of a Medicaid expansion bill. Now, that won’t be happening.
“Our plan is to let our bill die on the calendar and then we’ll take up the House Bill,” said District 19 Senator Kevin Blackwell, who also serves as Chairman of the Medicaid Committee. “I think you’ll see our bill be a lot more conservative than what the House put out,” Blackwell said the Senate plans to do a strike-all, meaning lawmakers are going to remove everything from the House’s bill and add in their new language.
Outside of saying there will be a work requirement, the senator is keeping the specifics of the bill close to his chest.
”We’ll have more to say as we develop it,” said Blackwell. “We’re still working on the details. I imagine we’ll have a committee hearing sometime during the middle of next week and we’ll discuss the full bill at that time.”
“For too long our state has struggled to keep our citizens healthy,” said Laken Camp, Government Relations Director for Care4Mississippi. “Lawmakers need to find a Mississippi solution to closing the coverage gap now.”