Nonprofit founder Nancy New handed restaurateur Jeff Good a check for $200,000 and then ghosted.The idea was for their organizations to partner to create a food recovery and reclamation center. They would take food that groceries and restaurants didn’t want — what people picture as a bruised apple or an ugly carrot — and turn it into ready-to-eat meals for the hungry. In late 2018 when they conceived the concept, one of Good’s businesses Soul City Hospitality was already leasing and investing in an empty, 16,000-square foot warehouse with that kind of project in mind.And New, who held a multi-million dollar state contract to spend federal welfare dollars with virtually no accountability, had the cash.Mississippi Today, Read More.
Category: News
How leading physicians want to improve healthcare access in Mississippi
Mississippi is one of 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid, and leaders with the Mississippi State Medical Association have created a plan to work towards expanding healthcare in the state. The plan addresses a variety of items and would be similar to that of neighboring states Arkansas and Louisiana which have both expanded healthcare access through Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waivers. These waivers allow states flexibility in how Medicaid programs are created.MPB, Read More.
Speaker Philip Gunn repeats need of special session to deal with medical worker shortages
House Speaker Philip Gunn on Monday reiterated his support for a special legislative session to pass a medical marijuana program and dole out federal relief funds to Mississippi hospitals dealing with staffing shortages. While speaking to the Daily Journal’s editorial board, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives also said he has requested Republican Gov. Tate Reeves call lawmakers back into a special session to approve death benefit payments for first responders who die of COVID-19 and appropriate funds for shelters that help survivors of domestic violence.Daily Journal, Read More.
CDC director warns the U.S. is at risk of a severe flu season this year
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention influenza experts are concerned that the United States could be at risk for a severe flu season this year, Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned Wednesday.That’s because the U.S. population may now have reduced immunity against influenza after seasonal flu cases reached an all-time low last year when large parts of the nation were shut down, Walensky told reporters during a White House press briefing.CNBC, Read More.
Congress should fund health care coverage for poor in states that won’t expand Medicaid
In 2017, long before I ran for the Senate, I was arrested at the U.S. Capitol while protesting for expanded access to health care. And as a man of faith, I was fighting long before then to get Georgians the health care they deserve because I believe health care is a human right.Now, as Congress works on a historic economic package that will revitalize our nation’s care infrastructure and move our economy forward, I’m still fighting to expand health care access for our neighbors who need it most.This time, I’m doing it as a senator from Georgia, my home state, where state leaders have refused for years to expand Medicaid.USA Today, Read More.
More Women Have Health Insurance Than Men Due To Medicaid
Fewer women are uninsured (10.5%) nationally than men (13.4%), due in large part to Medicaid providing pregnancy coverage for low-income women. 16.1% of women are on Medicaid, compared with 12.7% of men, according to census data analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Large swaths of the South still have restrictive Medicaid coverage or didn’t expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, leaving 1 in 5 women without insurance in states like Oklahoma and TexasAxois, Read More.
The flu proves more deadly for children of color than for White youths, study says
People who are Black, Hispanic or American Indian/Alaska Native are more likely than White people to be hospitalized with a case of the flu in the United States, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other institutions. Young children in these groups, along with Asian and Pacific Islander children, are also more likely to die of flu than White children.The Washington Post, Read More.
Community Clinics Shouldered Much of the Vaccine Rollout. Many Haven’t Been Paid.
Angel Greer, CEO of Coastal Family Health Center on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, said not receiving payment to help cover the clinic’s staffing costs is detrimental. More than 50% of the health center’s patients are uninsured — and 14% each are on Medicare or Medicaid. The federal Health Resources and Services Administration separately reimburses clinics for vaccines administered to uninsured people.In Mississippi, state officials initially proposed a plan that would have reimbursed health centers at the Medicare rate for stand-alone vaccinations. CMS has not approved it.KHN, Read More.
When the New Covid Surge Struck, Mississippi Was Uniquely Unprepared
On the ground floor of a parking garage at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, there are coronavirus patients where the cars should be — about 20 of them on any given day, laid up in air-conditioned tents and cared for by a team of medical personnel from a Christian charity group. Another garage nearby has been transformed into a staging area for a monoclonal antibody clinic for Covid-19 patients.The New York Times, Read More.
Hospitals in crisis in least vaccinated state: Mississippi
As patients stream into Mississippi hospitals one after another, doctors and nurses have become all too accustomed to the rampant denial and misinformation about COVID-19 in the nation’s least vaccinated state. People in denial about the severity of their own illness or the virus itself, with visitors frequently trying to enter hospitals without masks. The painful look of recognition on patients’ faces when they realize they made a mistake not getting vaccinated. The constant misinformation about the coronavirus that they discuss with medical staff.SunHerald, Read More.