Incoming health officer backs postpartum Medicaid expansion

JACKSON, Miss (AP) — Mississippi’s incoming state health officer has stated his support for expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage. Dr. Daniel Edney supports expanding coverage from the state’s current policy of two months to a full year. The policy would give poor mothers in the state access to more Medicaid coverage after they give birth. Mississippi State Department of Health data shows that 136 Mississippi mothers died either during pregnancy or within one year of their pregnancy’s end between 2013 and 2016. Of those deaths, 86% of them occurred postpartum. House Speaker Philip Gunn, a Republican, has repeatedly opposed expanding postpartum coverage.