Hosemann announces Senate Medicaid expansion bill

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said Thursday the Senate will have a bill by Monday’s deadline to expand Mississippi Medicaid to cover the working poor. Hosemann said the bill will likely contain a work requirement and cover roughly 230,000 adults who make too much to currently be eligible for Medicaid, but too little to afford private insurance. As it stands, these adults — if they’re not pregnant or disabled — have no access to preventative care, leading to Mississippi’s abysmal public health metrics, such as the lowest life expectancy in the country. This marks the first time, after a decade of partisan debate, that a Mississippi Republican leader has taken an affirmative step toward expansion. Hosemann, who is still loathe to use the words “Medicaid expansion,” said he hopes lawmakers pass such a plan into law.