More than a million people could get health care if these states would pass laws expanding Medicaid. Most residents want the expansion but entrenched politics stands in the way.
A coalition of advocates call for full Medicaid expansion in Mississippi at a rally at the State Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The gathering drew supporters from throughout the state representing religious, social and human service organizations, medical professionals and legislators.
This spring, Mississippi's legislature considered but ultimately failed to adopt expansion, which would have extended coverage to around 200,000 low-income residents. It's one ofSeven of those states are in the South. As more red states adopt it, the"drumbeat" of support, as one Southern state lawmaker put it, grows louder. But the opposition to expansion is heavily political.
"A lot of rural voters are Republicans. And so your own constituents are being hit by this and you're not addressing it," Wagner said."If the pressure gets high enough and sentiment shifts, maybe that's going to be enough to push them."The main disagreement in the Mississippi state legislature revolved around work requirements — recipients would have to show they were working part-time or in school.
"If you open up this federal subsidized program for hundreds of thousands of people, then it could actually hurt that labor participation rate, give them another reason not to go to work, to stay at home," saidThe federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would have to approve an expansion plan with a work requirement — something the Biden administration hasn't done.
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