Feds approve part of Gov. Reeves’ plan to help Mississippi hospitals

A plan championed by Gov. Tate Reeves to draw down more money for the state’s hospitals has been partially approved by the federal government. 

Thanks to the stamp of approval, hospitals could receive payments within weeks. 

For years as hospitals across the state have struggled, health care experts and hospital leaders have been asking for help, most calling for Medicaid expansion. Instead, at a press conference announcing his plan in September, Reeves doubled down on his opposition to expansion and pitched a plan to draw more federal money to hospitals.

According to Reeves’ office, the changes are estimated to infuse the state’s hospitals with nearly $700 million in total.

The plan relies on two changes to hospital Medicaid reimbursements that increase supplemental payments to hospitals. This is extra money hospitals receive to offset low reimbursement rates from Medicaid and for uncompensated care, or money hospitals lose caring for people who are uninsured.

The component of that plan approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which reimburses hospitals for low Medicaid payments at an average commercial rate for services, will generate approximately $600 million, according to the press release. It’s not clear what average commercial rate (state, regional or national) the plan utilizes to yield these results — Mississippi has a low average commercial rate, according to experts. 

The second component of the plan, which modifies another form of supplemental payments, has not yet been approved.

“This plan is going to strengthen our state’s healthcare system and I’m glad that we could get it done for the people of Mississippi,” Reeves said in a press release. “This is the product of meetings with a range of medical professionals and healthcare leaders, and I’m truly thankful to all of them for helping to get us to today.”

Experts say the reforms will bring more money to the state’s hospitals, but it won’t insure more people in Mississippi, one of the most uninsured states in America. Additionally, the hospitals that appear to benefit most from the plan appear to be larger facilities, not the small rural hospitals feeling the stress of the health care crisis most acutely. 

Former state hospital association director Tim Moore previously told Mississippi Today that Reeves’ proposals do “nothing to help the low-wage earners in Mississippi who do not have the disposable income to pay for medical care.”

Researchers estimate the Medicaid expansion, by increasing the wage level that Mississippians would be eligible for Medicaid, would insure 200,000 to 300,000 people who currently don’t qualify for Medicaid but don’t make enough to pay for marketplace insurance. 

While emergency rooms cannot turn down patients regardless of their insurance status, doctor’s offices and clinics can. That means one of the only ways uninsured people can receive health care in Mississippi, one of the unhealthiest states in the country, is through emergency care. Preventative care, though, is inaccessible. 

At the press conference, Reeves encouraged the population of Mississippians without health insurance to get a job or a better job and derisively referred to expansion as “welfare.”

In other states that have adopted similar measures, experts say the policy reforms make the biggest difference when combined with Medicaid expansion.

The federal government is still considering the second proposal. It’s not clear why the plan is being considered separately.

The changes are retroactively effective beginning July 1, so the Mississippi Division of Medicaid will deliver the first round of payments to hospitals in the coming weeks, according to the press release.

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