Tag: Mississippi

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STATE NEWS – Medicaid advisory committee meets – Mississippi Today

STATE NEWS – Medicaid advisory committee meets – Mississippi Today


Alternative Headline: Mississippi Medicaid Panel Reconvenes


[MM Curator Summary]: Mississippi’s Medicaid Advisory Committee resumed meetings after 19 months, now including required input from Medicaid beneficiaries per new federal rules.

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Cindy Bradshaw, executive director of the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, listens during a meeting of the Medicaid Advisory Committee at the Sillers Building, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

The committee tasked with advising the Mississippi Division of Medicaid met Friday for the first time in a year and a half. 

The meeting in Jackson was a primer on Medicaid programs and provided a financial update for new members, most of whom were appointed in 2024 but have not yet participated in a meeting. 

The Medicaid Advisory Committee offers expertise and opinions to the state Medicaid program about health care services. It is made up of doctors, hospital executives, managed care organization representatives and other Medicaid stakeholders. 

Medicaid Advisory Committee members during a meeting at the Sillers Building, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

It includes two members of the recently formed Beneficiary Advisory Council, a group of Medicaid members and their families who advise Medicaid on their experience with the program. 

New federal policy seeks to heighten the role that beneficiaries play in shaping Medicaid programs and policy by mandating that members of the council serve on the Medicaid Advisory Committee. Ten percent of the group must be composed of beneficiaries or their families, a proportion that will rise in the coming years. 

Both committees are mandated by the federal government to meet quarterly. 

The last Medicaid Advisory Committee meeting, formerly known as the Medical Care Advisory Committee, was held on Dec. 8, 2023. 

Meetings were first set back in 2024 because state leaders, who were formerly charged with selecting members, were slow to make appointments. A meeting scheduled for October was postponed after former executive director Drew Snyder announced his resignation. 

Medicaid Advisory Committee members during a meeting at the Sillers Building, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Meetings were then delayed further while the agency worked to sort out a discrepancy between state law and new federal guidelines, which mandated that committee appointments be made by the executive director of Medicaid and include members of the then-unformed Beneficiary Advisory Council. The new guidelines took effect this month. 

State lawmakers proposed language in several bills earlier this year during the legislative session that would have conformed state law to federal regulations. Two such bills were vetoed by the governor. 

Medicaid Executive Director Cindy Bradshaw said the agency decided to “honor the language” of the vetoed bills, conforming to federal guidelines without updating state law. 

Medicaid Advisory Committee members during a meeting at the Sillers Building, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

The committee’s recommendations have played a crucial role in crafting state Medicaid policy in the past. In 2023, the advisory group’s recommendation contributed to the Legislature’s passage of extended Medicaid coverage for new mothers. 

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

https://mississippitoday.org/2025/07/25/medicaid-advisory-committee-meets-for-the-first-time-since-2023/



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CMS NEWS – Mississippi Medicaid appropriation increases by $58 million for new fiscal year, state support nears $1 billion

CMS NEWS – Mississippi Medicaid appropriation increases by $58 million for new fiscal year, state support nears $1 billion


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Alternative Headline: Mississippi Medicaid Budget Rises

[MM Curator Summary]: Mississippi’s Medicaid budget grows by $58 million as enrollment declines and federal policy changes loom.

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  • Enrollment numbers in the program are on a decline in the Magnolia State.

The Mississippi Division of Medicaid is anticipated to operate off a total budget of $8.4 billion for the new fiscal year which begins July 1. Of that total, the state’s total support sits at about $969.9 million, Senate Medicaid Committee Chair Kevin Blackwell (R) told his colleagues during the recent special session.

“In this bill, we allowed for a deficit of $60 million. Actually, the department thinks it’s going to be about … $120 [million] for next year, but all we could get was the $60 [million] out of the House,” Blackwell described.

For the previous fiscal year, the Legislature set the state support at about $911 million, meaning the new state budget will provide a $58 million increase to the division.

As with all bills this session, Blackwell said, health insurance increases for employees of the Mississippi Division of Medicaid were included in the increase.

Mississippi is one of a handful of states that has not expanded its Medicaid program for able-bodied adults as part of the Affordable Care Act.

According to reports shared by the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, there were 718,028 Mississippians enrolled in June 2024. That number is a decrease from the 904,590 reported in June 2023. According to the state department’s enrollment report from April 2025, 705,097 residents were enrolled in the program, which includes CHIP participants.

Bills to expand Medicaid were considered during the 2024 session, but none made it to the governor’s desk. No bill with that purpose was discussed on the floor of either chamber of the Mississippi Legislature this session.

However, given the proposed changes at the federal level in the Trump Administration’s “big, beautiful bill” making its way through Congress, that could change as a sticking point in Mississippi centered on work requirements. The federal legislation under consideration seeks to make work requirements a key component of the program going forward.

While Mississippi has not expanded its Medicaid program, it does receive one of the highest, if not the highest, Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) match rates. The state division’s 2024 report shows the program was at 78.42 percent for fiscal year 2024. 

https://magnoliatribune.com/2025/06/13/mississippi-medicaid-appropriation-increases-by-58-million-for-new-fiscal-year-state-support-nears-1-billion/





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Key MS House leader offers bill to restructure authority over Division of Medicaid

MM Curator summary

Mississippi wants to take away Medicaid from the Governor.

 
 

The article below has been highlighted and summarized by our research team. It is provided here for member convenience as part of our Curator service.

 
 

Rep. Trey Lamar

A new bill from the Mississippi House of Representatives, HB 1013 authored by House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar (R) would establish a Medicaid Commission to oversee the Division of Medicaid currently operated under the instruction of the Governor’s office.

The proposed Commission would be made up of seven members. Three would be appointed by the Governor and four by the Lt. Governor initially, with later appointments made with the advice and consent of the state Senate. The Speaker of the House would have the ability to nominate two of the Lt. Governor’s appointees.

This marks a departure from the current circumstance as Medicaid is part of the executive branch with the Executive Director appointed by and reporting to the Governor.

The bill further clarifies the qualifications of the members and what experience they bring to the table, requiring some be a representative of Medicaid providers or from each Supreme Court or Congressional District.

It will then be up to the Commission of seven to appoint an Executive Director, who is required to either be a physician with administrative experience or a person holding a graduate degree in medical care administration, public health, hospital administration or something similar. The individual can also hold a bachelor’s degree with at least three years experience in management-level administration for policy development for Medicaid.

“House bill 1013 would essentially remove the Division of Medicaid from underneath the Governor and place a seven member board over the Division of Medicaid,” said Representative Lamar.

The language of the bill could cause some confusion when it states that it would “Abolish the Division of Medicaid and transfer the powers, duties, property and Employees of the Division to the Medicaid Commission.”

However, Lamar said this language is a matter of semantics. In laymen’s terms the bill would take the infrastructure and operations of the Division of Medicaid and rename the program under the Medicaid Commission within Mississippi Law. The substantive change would be that the authority would be moved from the Governor to the commission.

Rep. Lamar said with this change you would have seven sets of eyes over what has become a $6 billion industry. Medicaid is the largest budget in the state. There is roughly $1 billion of state dollars that go into the program and $5 billion of federal. While much of how those dollars is dictated by the federal government, the new board would also have input.

He said this commission would function similarly to the Department of Education, Institutions of Higher Learning, and Department of Health.

This would go into effect by July 1, 2021.

The appointment of the Medicaid Executive Director is at this time reserved for the Governor.

Currently, Medicaid is led by Executive Director Drew Snyder who was first appointed to the position by Governor Phil Bryant. The team also consists of a Deputy Executive Director, with several offices that work in conjunction with each other to accomplish regular work.

Medicaid serves roughly 720,000 Mississippians.

Mississippi’s Division of Medicaid was established in 1969 by the Mississippi Legislature.  It is housed within the Office of the Governor and is designated by state statute as the single state agency responsible for administering Medicaid. It currently employs over 1,300 people with 30 regional offices and over 80 outstations.

Lamar said this bill would not impact those jobs, but simply remove the division from under the Governor’s purview.

While tensions have been high in the past concerning Medicaid spending, the Division of Medicaid has made great strides fiscally since Snyder took over. For FY 2022, Medicaid did not request the typical $50 million deficit that the Legislature has become accustomed to in recent years.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Division had roughly $40 million in special funds due to safe budgeting for the last few years. They have also continued to expand telemedicine opportunities, a program that was being prepped before the necessity of at home doctor visits due to social distancing.

In late 2020 Medicaid hearings, even providers complimented Snyder on the job he was doing to re-vamp the program, applauding his “open door” policy with everyone. Lamar echoed many of these sentiments, saying Snyder has done a great job over the Division.

The current concerns over Medicaid in Mississippi seem to revolve around Managed Care, the five percent reimbursement for providers and the difficult credentialing process. Many providers told lawmakers in October that they would like to see a more streamlined credentialing process.

Over the years there have been unsuccessful attempts by Legislative Democrats to expand Medicaid in Mississippi.  Republicans have fought the measure believing that the long term impact of substantially higher Medicaid enrollments would have a devastating effect on the state’s budget.  Many lawmakers believe that Snyder and his team have demonstrated Medicaid expansion is not necessary to run an efficient and effective program.

Lamar said a change like this is not unprecedented. It was only in the mid-80’s that the authority over the Division of Medicaid was handed over to the Governor.

“This would just be returning the state of Mississippi back to the way we use to do it and I think it makes sense,” said Lamar.

 
 

Clipped from: https://yallpolitics.com/2021/01/22/key-house-leader-offers-bill-to-restructure-authority-over-division-of-medicaid/