Legislature poised to clash over postpartum Medicaid again next year

Daily Journal

The two chambers of the Mississippi Legislature appear headed toward another fight over a proposal to give new mothers increased health coverage under Medicaid. Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, told reporters after a hearing on Thursday that he “absolutely” intends to file a bill during the 2023 legislative session that would give new mothers postpartum Medicaid benefits for up to a year after giving birth. The Thursday committee heard from multiple medical experts about the benefits of increasing postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days — the state’s current policy — to a full year.

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Mississippi hit by 900% increase in newborns treated for syphilis

The number of babies in Mississippi being treated for congenital syphilis has jumped by more than 900% over five years, uprooting the progress the nation’s poorest state had made in nearly quashing what experts say is an avoidable public health crisis. The rise in cases has placed newborns at further risk of life-threatening harm in a state that’s already home to the nation’s worstinfant mortality rate. In 2021, 102 newborns in Mississippi were treated for the sexually transmitted disease, up from 10 in 2016, according to an analysis of hospital billing data shared by Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the medical director for the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Crossroads Clinic in Jackson, which focuses on sexually transmitted infections.
Feds give Greenville grant for primary care clinic as Delta faces loss of health care services

Local leadership in the Delta says the region’s crumbling health system has been abandoned by the state – so they’re figuring out how to fix it on their own with the help of federal funds. Greenville’s mayor and a local health clinic say they’re working to give people in the Delta better access to doctors and primary care, as hospitals around them shutter and strip back specialty care. As a result, the city of Greenville received $2 million in federal funds to construct a new health clinic in partnership with the Delta Health Center.