MageeNews.com

Hospital Assn. Wants to Pay Part of Medicaid Expansion Costs

Mississippi Hospital Association issued the following press release:

Mississippi hospitals have announced a proposal, Mississippi Cares, to help cover the almost 300,000 Mississippi adults in our state who have no health insurance and are not currently eligible for Medicaid. The proposed plan would be a public-private partnership between the State of Mississippi, Mississippi hospitals, Mississippi True, and its plan members to create a healthier and more productive Mississippi, to sustain access to hospital care for Mississippi communities, to reform the Medicaid payment and delivery models, and to stimulate Mississippi’s economy.

Mississippi Cares would cover non-disabled adults age 19-64 earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level (currently approximately $17,000 for an individual or $35,000 for a family of four). Due to the foresight of Republicans passing the Restore Hope Act in 2017, Mississippi already has a process in place to ensure compliance with these income standards. This proposal emphasizes personal responsibility and healthcare consumerism. Plan participants would contribute $20/month in premium payments, with a $100 co-pay for non-emergency use of a hospital emergency department if there is a federally qualified health center, rural health clinic, or urgent care center within 20 miles of the hospital. Other co-pays and plan benefits will mirror traditional fee-for-service Medicaid, with the exception of non-emergency transportation services. Dental and vision benefits will also be included. Non-employed plan members must enroll in a job training, education, or volunteer program, with certain exceptions.

“Uncompensated care costs in Mississippi are exceeding $600 million annually. Mississippi is among the highest in the country in medical debt. Not because our costs are too high – we rank in the bottom third in the country for health care expenditures per person – but because our need for healthcare is so great and our means to pay for that needed care is so low,” said Timothy H. Moore, President/Chief Executive Officer of the Mississippi Hospital Association, the state’s trade association for hospitals. “Healthcare is a quality of life issue. Many working adults have no health insurance coverage in our state. If Mississippi is going to improve the quality of life for our citizens, we can’t continue to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result. Plain and simple, what we’re doing, particularly in our Medicaid program, isn’t working. We need Medicaid reform.”

Under a special Medicaid waiver request, Mississippi hospitals would make an additional investment in the premiums needed to fund insurance coverage through a hospital-owned provider-sponsored health plan, Mississippi True. Due to hospital and participant investment, this plan will not cost the state any additional dollars. Hospital investments and personal premiums from plan members would fund the needed 10% state share to match the 90% federal share.

In 2015, the Mississippi legislature overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 2441 to create Mississippi True with overwhelming Republican support. The bill recognized that provider-sponsored health plans are a vehicle for improving the delivery of Medicaid in our state, currently monopolized by out-of-state, for-profit companies. Mississippi True has already obtained a license from the Mississippi Department of Insurance. Well-established provider-led plans have demonstrated that they can improve health outcomes and spend less on their own administrative costs.

This plan will pump more than $1 billion dollars each year into Mississippi’s economy, create 19,000 jobs, improve personal income by over $600 million, and increase general fund revenue by $50-100 million. This proposal is a win-win situation for the state of Mississippi. It reduces uncompensated care costs for hospitals, helps Mississippians access the healthcare they need when they need it, and sustains access to hospital care, particularly in our rural communities. Most importantly, this proposal will result in a healthier and more productive workforce in our state.

For more information about the proposal, please visit www.MississippiCares.com.

The post MS Hospital Association Announces Proposal to Help Cover Uninsured appeared first on MageeNews.com.

A few years ago, I was on the verge of my dream job, one I had been working towards for years. Other than a few logistics to settle before I officially signed on the dotted line, it was finally mine– almost. In a last-minute surprise, a shift in funding at the company eliminated the position. I was devastated.

I felt disappointed with God. All of the signs had pointed to this job being His will. It felt like He had done a bait-and-switch.

I knew I was supposed to say that God was good and I just needed to accept the fact that He had a different plan. I didn’t want that plan though if I was really honest. There were too many good reasons for Him to do it the way I wanted. But I had to let go of it, and from my perspective, it was for no good reason.

Around that time, I ran across this quote from Eugene Peterson’s book “Run with the Horses,” in which he tells a story of seeing an adult swallow teaching its chicks to fly:

One adult swallow got alongside the chicks and started shoving them out toward the end of the branch – pushing, pushing, pushing. The end one fell off. Somewhere between the branch and the water four feet below, the wings started working, and the fledgling was off on his own. Then the second one.

The third was not to be bullied. At the last possible moment his grip on the branch loosened just enough so that he swung downward, then tightened again, bulldog tenacious. The parent was without sentiment. He pecked at the desperately clinging talons until it was more painful for the poor chick to hang on than risk the insecurities of flying. The grip was released, and the inexperienced wings began pumping. The mature swallow knew what the chick did not–that it would fly– that there was no danger in making it do what it was perfectly designed to do.

That story hit me hard as I realized that I was that third little bird, the one whose talons were locked onto the comfortable branch of having my dream job. God wasn’t going to have it though. God was going to peck, peck, peck at my talons and do whatever it took to set me free from my desperate attempt to hold onto something that was supposed to make my life complete–something other than Him.

Several years later, I look back at that frustrating time and notice something: Letting go of that branch taught me how to fly in ways I never would have otherwise. I didn’t say it made me good at flying – the storms of life still fling this little bird around. It feels unfair and hard. I seek the comfort of new branches, and the Lord actually allows me to rest on them for a while. But before long, He’s nudging me again.

Year by year, with each plunge of faith, my little wings are getting stronger. I’m learning to trust the one who made those wings and believe that, in the end, He’ll use them to get me just where He wants me to be.

U.S. Measles Cases Continue to Climb

U.S. measles cases are continuing their record climb, with more than 100 new cases added in the last few weeks. The total of new cases nationwide for 2019 reached 880 as of May 17, with two new states affected since the beginning of the month. Outbreaks of three or more confirmed cases are now active in New York, Michigan, California, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington.

As for many years, Mississippi has no reported cases of measles for 2019. Mississippi’s strong vaccination requirements for school entry have given it one of the highest rates of vaccination coverage against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

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