Speaker White on Medicaid expansion negotiations: ‘Come for the savings, stay for the compassion’

The House last week invited “conference” to hammer out a compromise on Medicaid expansion legislation. White will soon appoint three House members, and Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann will appoint three senators to negotiate a plan. As the House and Senate conferees start deliberating, White told Mississippi Today: The House would likely not agree to any plan that doesn’t take advantage of about $1 billion a year in federal dollars to expand Medicaid coverage — as opposed to state taxpayers covering the cost as the Senate has proposed. The House is open to plans similar to Arkansas that would expand eligibility to 99% of the federal poverty level through traditional expansion and provide extra subsidies from the state’s federal Medicaid money available from the Affordable Care Act to cover people between 100% to 138% of the FPL on the federal insurance exchange. He believes the House has the necessary two-thirds votes needed to override a potential veto from Gov. Tate Reeves. He wants the conference committee meetings to be open to the public.