Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has called for a special legislative session Thursday morning for lawmakers to hammer out a Medicaid budget that could otherwise go unfunded beginning July 1, according to a report by the Associated Press and the Natchez Democrat. By the time the normal legislative session ended in April, lawmakers had not approved any funding for the state's existing Medicaid program due to political bickering over an expansion of that program under provisions of the federal health law. Democrats refused to approve funding for Medicaid until lawmakers took a vote on an expansion bill. Republicans wouldn't hear it, wanting only to continue Medicaid at its current eligibility levels.
Some speculated the governor would fund the program by executive order, but the state's attorney general wrote a nonbinding opinion claiming the governor lacked the authority to do so.
More than 644,000 of Mississippi's nearly 3 million residents, or more than one in five, are enrolled in Medicaid in its current form and would lose healthcare coverage if the program's funding expired. If Democrats have their way and expand the program to adults and households earning 138 percent of the federal poverty line, an estimated 300,000 people would be added to the rolls, according to the report.
Gov. Bryant, a Republican who opposes the expansion, has sole authority over the special session's agenda and is reportedly limiting the sections of the law that are open for legislative debate in order to block Democrats from pushing for an expansion.
More Articles on Medicaid Expansion:
Mississippi Medicaid Doomsday Clock Set to July 1
Once Averse, Missouri Plans Analyses of Possible Medicaid Expansion
Arizona Medicaid Opponents Petition for Ballot Block