Healthy Foods InitiativeVoices for Health CareThe Nurse Family PartnershipHealth Care ReformMedicaid/SCHIPHealth Help for Kids News

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Issues: Healthy Foods InitiativeVoices for Health CareThe Nurse Family PartnershipHealth Care ReformMedicaid/SCHIPHealth Help for Kids

Eliminating the 7 percent sales tax on healthy foods, while maintaining the tax on junk foods would achieve 2 goals. First, it would make healthy foods—which studies have shown are 10 times as expensive as unhealthy, high-calorie foods – more affordable. Second, by eliminating the tax only on healthy foods, the state of Mississippi would continue to receive revenues from the purchase of unhealthy foods

Mississippi is one of only two states left that still fully taxes food purchased for home consumption.  Currently seventeen states and D.C. currently have laws that tax foods of low nutritional value, including Mississippi neighbors Arkansas and Tennessee.

F as in Fat

F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2009 is a study from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The study found that 31.7 percent of adults in Mississippi qualify as obese.

Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity at 32.5 percent, making it the fifth year in a row that the state topped the list. Mississippi also had the highest rate of obese and overweight children (ages 10 to 17) at 44.4 percent.

“Reversing the childhood obesity epidemic is a critical ingredient for delivering a healthier population and making health reform work,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., RWJF president and CEO. “If we can prevent the current generation of young people from developing the serious and costly chronic conditions related to obesity, we can not only improve health and quality of life, but we can also save billions of dollars and make our health care systems more efficient and sustainable.”
While some policies designed to promote physical activity and good nutrition have been introduced in Mississippi, the report’s findings suggest that these policies are not progressive enough to reverse obesity trends. This is the fifth year in a row that Mississippi has ranked number 1 in adult obesity. The state has also been at or near the top of the rankings in childhood obesity.

The report specifically recommends a proposal of the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program to remove the grocery tax on healthy foods items and leave the sales tax on unhealthy or “junk” foods.

Click here to read the report.

Preventing Childhood Obesity

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) produced Local Government Action to Prevent Childhood Obesity, a report that serves as a practical guide for government officials at the city, town, township or county level who want to take action to address healthy eating and active living.

This report recommends 58 action steps organized under 15 broad strategies. The IOM Committee also highlighted some of the most promising strategies across the report with the greatest potential to make a difference based on available research as described below:

Healthy Eating:

    Create incentive programs to attract supermarkets and grocery stores to underserved neighborhoods;

      Require menu labeling in chain restaurants to provide consumers with calorie information on in-store menus and menu boards;

        Mandate and implement strong nutrition standards for foods and beverages available in government-run or regulated after-school programs, recreation  
                  centers, parks, and child-care facilities, including limiting access to unhealthy foods and beverages;

          Implement a tax strategy to discourage consumption of foods and beverages that have minimal nutritional value, such as sugar sweetened beverages.

          Click Here to read the report.

          Get Involved

          As a restructuring of the state’s tax policy is being considered by lawmakers and the Governor’s Tax Study Commission, there should be great consideration to changing the state’s grocery tax policy. Learn more about and get involved in the issues affecting the healthy foods tax by visiting the MHAP Action Center. 

          Policy & Reports

           

          What Do You Want Health Care in Mississippi to Look Like in 10 Years?

          Share Your Voice

          Online Dialogue enables hundreds of people to participate in an electronic discussion with others who hold very different world views. Click here to register.

          Voices for Health Care is a multi-state effort to engage leaders and the public in working through alternatives for health care reform.

          Through a series of public dialogues, community conversations, and an online dialogue, Voices for Health Care Mississippi aims to spark a broad-based conversation among members of the public, leaders and businesses , to identify common ground and approaches to sustainable reform that all can support.

          Click here to share your challenges and offer ideas on fixing health care in Mississippi on our MHAP blogs.

          The Project

          Voices for Health Care aims to help this process along by providing opportunities for Mississippians of all stripes to engage each other on the tough issues involved in fixing our health care system.

           

          The Nurse-Family Partnership is a nationally recognized nurse home visiting program that improves the health, well-being and self-sufficiency of first-time parents and their children.

          Nurse Family Partnership Program Request for Proposals
          Under this request for proposals, MHAP is inviting the participation of community-based organizations that currently work with underserved populations who directly and indirectly have a stake in the issue of healthy mothers and improved birth outcomes.

          About the Program

          The program’s nurses visit moms in their homes every one to two weeks during pregnancy and throughout their child’s first two years of life, offering guidance on breast feeding, child development, parenting skills, pregnancy planning, preventive health practices and strategies to attain economic self-sufficiency, including going back to school and finding a good job. It has already improved the health of infants in more than 310 counties in 23 states across the nation.

          Mississippi Health Advocacy Program (MHAP) is conducting a study to assess the potential of a Nurse-Family Partnership program in Mississippi.

          Join our network to stay up-to-date on the program.

          The study is funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan. The Foundation supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society.

          As part of the study, MHAP, the Children’s Defense Fund, Mississippi Health Policy Research Center and community partners will conduct community forums and listening sessions throughout the state to learn more about the healthcare needs of Mississippians.

          Our Partners

                             
          Children’s Defense Fund    

          Mississippi Health Policy Research Center

          Fact Sheets:

          The following fact sheets provide a general overview of Nurse-Family Partnership, they are all in PDF format to download and print.

          Mississippi is a state that has had a long, sad history with health outcomes. The confluence of historical racial and economic baggage, indifferent and sometimes hostile leadership, and long-standing, suffocating poverty has created a seemingly untenable environment for change. At this writing, Mississippi has 17.9% of its citizens uninsured, 40% in poverty according to the federal poverty level guidelines, and 22.1% of its citizens on Medicaid. These are the results of years of neglect on the issue of health care coverage.

          The Affordable Act

          The landmark Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act (PPACA) that was signed into law this March presented a once in a decade opportunity for Mississippi to envision health care delivery in way that is tailored our specific needs.  The bill is a comprehensive effort that strives to open up and protect current access to both public health care programs and the private insurance market.  It aims to cover 32 million more Americans, while ensuring protections for the millions that are currently insured. As health care advocates, our goal is to work diligently to engage the public and policymakers in making sure that the vision and promise of health care reform for thousands of Mississippians is realized.  It is our hope that this website will be a trusted source for providing accurate, timely, and easily understood information about what health care reform really means for you and your family.

          Mississippi Health Reform Project

          MHAP’s long-term goal for this project is to build, mobilize and sustain a diverse statewide coalition of Mississippians committed to expanding health insurance coverage for all uninsured citizens of this State. We also want to begin a substantive dialogue around coverage expansion in this State.

          Get Involved

          Learn more about and get involved in the Mississippi Health Reform Project by visiting the MHAP Action Center. 

           

          Medicaid is the United States health program for individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It is jointly funded by the states and federal government, and is managed by the states. Among the groups of people served by Medicaid are eligible low-income parents, pregnant women, children, seniors, and people with disabilities.

          The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a federal government program that gives funds to states in order to provide health insurance to families with children. The program was designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid.

          In Mississippi

          Mississippi receives a 3-1 funding match from the federal government, meaning for every 25 cents the state spends the federal government matches with 75 cents.

          The state’s eligibility standards for families and children can be found here

          The state’s eligibility standards for the elderly and disabled can be found here.

          Get Involved

          Learn more about and get involved in issues facing Medicaid/SCHIP by visiting the MHAP Action Center.

          Policy &  Reports

          A Seat at the Table

          Providing health care for children is one of the best investments anyone can make. Children that have access to continuous, quality health care are better prepared to be more productive and contributing members of their communities. Recognizing this, the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program (MHAP) will begin a direct service program to guide parents through the process of securing much needed health care for their children. Health Help for Kids is a program designed to provide health education, assistance, and resources to Mississippi parents attempting to obtain and retain their children’s health care benefits. The Program will start assisting parents in January 2010.

          The program will provide comprehensive enrollment and advocacy services to Mississippi parents attempting to enroll and/or reapply for their children’s benefits in Medicaid/CHIP. Parents will be offered counseling and assistance on behalf of their children. A toll-free number will be established to accept statewide calls, Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm. The website, http://www.healthhelpms.org , will also offer information and assistance to parents and/or guardians. Health Help for Kids will improve health care access to eligible children, especially working families.

          Health Help Counselors Will Help You

            Keep up-to-date on the latest Medicaid/CHIP information
            Understand your rights and responsibilities as a Beneficiary.
            Work through the Medicaid/CHIP eligibility process.
            Work with DOM on eligibility issues.
            Understand how to get and keep Medicaid/CHIP Benefits.