Rural Healthcare Across Mississippi Could Benefit From Medicaid Expansion

Various institutions and governmental units are working to improve rural healthcare coverage in Mississippi as medical costs spiral and healthcare access lessens nationwide.

Mississippi still has not expanded Medicaid. Perish any thought that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, through an important just-announced rural health initiative, must've taken us off the 10-state list of commonwealths that have spurned Medicaid expansion. He didn't. He's not gonna.

While Reeves has many harsh critics for not expanding the federal-state Medicaid program, others credit him for his recent announcement of 167 awards totaling $104.1 million to be distributed through the Mississippi Rural Health Transformation Program; part of the $50 billion rural healthcare set-aside contained in President Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful Budget Bill" designed to offset huge cuts in Medicaid.

"When we began this work, we set out to do more than simply invest in the healthcare system we already have," Reeves said. "We set out to transform rural Mississippians' access to care - bringing more services closer to home, strengthening the providers and facilities that rural communities depend on, and using technology and innovation to better connect patients to care across our state."

Reeves has not publicly discussed Medicaid lately, but by not expanding, Mississippi continues to leave available federal funds from Washington in Washington. Mississippi loses millions of federal dollars each year by not expanding Medicaid to families whose income can rank up to 138% of the federal poverty line ($22,024 per year for an individual) to join those rolls.

A Families USA analysis estimates that Mississippi is losing $73.8 million in 2026 in state tax revenue and healthcare spending that would be covered by Medicaid expansion. It's estimated that Mississippi left about $14.5 billion on the table from 2013-2022 by not expanding Medicaid.

Furthermore, and more importantly, upwards of 200,000 low-income citizens could gain Medicaid coverage if Mississippi expands the program, and hospitals would benefit.

U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith announced a new federal grant of $3.75 million for staffing at 20 Mississippi hospitals, and Reeves is joining President Trump in seeking lower drug costs for Medicaid patients.

All of these economic, emotional, cultural and bewildering issues surrounding Medicaid are certainly, in part, why the University of Mississippi Medical Center's acquisition of a new Picatus PC-12 airplane is important to state residents' wellbeing.

"Often, we see patients who need access to a higher level of specialized care, and distance can become a real operational barrier," Jeremy Benson, director of the Mississippi Center for Emergency Services told Caleb Salers of SuperTalk Radio.

"This fixed-wing asset helps us bridge that gap. It gives AirCare the ability to reach farther, support our partner hospitals more effectively, and bring patients to the right level of care in a safe, timely, and efficient manner."

Somebody with preeminent medical expertise must reach corners-of-state places and hamlets in-between that do not possess top emergency care. When our important rural hospitals cannot handle an emergency call or illness, UMMC, serving the area "from the Gulf Coast to Corinth to the Delta," through affiliation with seven hospitals, clinics, telehealth sites and clinical training locations, must turn services toward the whole state.

Another hospital helping itself is Southwest Mississippi Medical Center in McComb, which has installed the first Philips-Rembra CT system for acute and high-demand imaging environments in the U.S. The new system is designed to support the McComb hospital's high-demand emergency imaging environment across that area.

Certainly, these valuable city and rural hospitals could resolve some situations on their own if Mississippi would buck the trend of those all-Republican governed states that have not expanded Medicaid.

Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.