House leaders have issues with $7M for mothers but OK with millions in pork spending

Jan. 26—I knew I spoke too soon.

Last week, I said that things were almost too quiet in the Mississippi Legislature, and the 174 lawmakers this week quickly responded.

Lobbyists, reporters and Capitol staffers have been stuck in committee hell this week as the Tuesday deadline for committees to advance bills out of the chamber quickly approaches.

One thing that will be discussed soon is something I've spilled a lot of ink over but something I think deserves a lot more ink: postpartum Medicaid.

Mississippi has some of the worst metrics in the nation for maternal healthcare and infant mortality. Some of the root causes of this are a lack of quality healthcare, poverty and a lack of affordable health insurance.

Medical experts at the Mississippi Department of Health, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics have all said one way to combat this is to give mothers more Medicaid benefits.

Medicaid — a health insurance program funded by state and federal governments for low-income adults, children and pregnant women — already covers most of the births in Mississippi.

But the state's current policy only gives new mothers Medicaid coverage for up to 60 days after they give birth. Health experts say the state should increase that to a full year.

The Senate has overwhelming passed that proposal multiple times, but it keeps dying in the House because Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, is opposed to it.

Gunn believes the program is a form of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, which is something he also opposes.

Since the speaker remains opposed to this, the proposal must be projected to drain state coffers, right?

Well, leaders at the state Division of Medicaid estimate that postpartum extension would only cost the state $7 million a year.

Mississippi and Wyoming are now the only two states in the country that have not either expanded Medicaid to the working poor or extended postpartum Medicaid coverage for new mothers beyond 60 days after birth, according to Kaiser Family Foundation.

So I decided to poll all 23 House members of what I consider to make up the Northeast Mississippi delegation to see where they stand on the issue. Almost all of them want to study the proposal more or support the idea already.

But the speaker still won't commit to bring the issue up for a full vote on the House floor.

Here are just a few projects the House approved last year:

— $8 million to assist Clinton in paying costs associated with project site work for and construction

— $8 million to assist Rankin County with roads and bridges

— $2 million to assist Brandon with infrastructure improvements

— $10 million to help the Horn Lake Creek Basin Interceptor Sewer District

And these are just a small, small portion of the projects the Legislature approved last year. It would take me a whole day to calculate the total dollar amount for the projects passed last year.

But if the Legislature took these spending projects out, it could pay for more healthcare for poor mothers.

Granted, most of these projects are probably needed, and rural communities need state tax dollars. But this is just a small illustration to showcase how House leaders place a higher premium on creek banks and sewer districts than they do maternal healthcare.

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taylor.vance@djournal.com