Senate killing its Medicaid expansion bill without a vote, continues work on a plan

The Republican-controlled Senate will delay voting on a bill to expand Medicaid coverage to the working poor this week while it works to build support among members for its own version of an expansion plan.  Senate Medicaid Committee Chairman Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, on Tuesday said that he will let a Senate bill to expand Medicaid die on Thursday’s deadline to pass all Senate bills in the full chamber. Instead, Blackwell said he plans to use the House’s Medicaid expansion bill that overwhelmingly passed that chamber last month and amend it by inserting a Senate plan. That Senate plan has yet to be made public, and Senate leaders including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann have provided scant details. The Senate’s bill to-date was a “dummy bill” that contained only code sections required to expand Medicaid with no details or new policy. “We’re going to do a strike-all amendment on the House plan,” Blackwell said.