Advocates push for full Medicaid expansion as Mississippi legislators enter negotiations

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A coalition of advocates rallied for full Medicaid expansion Tuesday at the Mississippi Capitol as lawmakers prepare to negotiate a final plan that could extend health care coverage to tens of thousands of residents in one of the poorest states in the U.S.

Members of Working Together Mississippi — a coalition of religious and nonprofit groups — said lawmakers face an economic and moral imperative to ensure more citizens gain access to health care coverage. In recent weeks, they and other advocacy groups have accelerated public campaigns as top lawmakers aim to reach a consensus on what would be a landmark shift in the state’s health care policy.

“We urge the House and the Senate to find a compromise that takes full advantage of the federal funding that will move our state from 50th in most health outcomes and would save our hospitals,” said the Rev. Gregory Divinity of New Vineyard Church in Utica.

Against a backdrop of signs emblazoned with “Full Expansion,” speakers on the Capitol steps called for lawmakers to pass a bill that covers people earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level, as the House did, rather than a competing Senate proposal that would only cover people earning up to 100% of that threshold.

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