Amid Partisan Split, Medicaid Plan Passes Mississippi Senate

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A proposal to keep Mississippi’s Medicaid program alive is advancing in the Legislature.

Senators voted 31-16 Tuesday to pass Senate Bill 2836 , with most Republicans supporting it and most Democrats opposing it. The bill goes to the House for more work.

Democrats expressed concern that Mississippi has passed up billions of federal dollars by not expanding Medicaid to the working poor. Expansion is an option under the health law signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2010.

Medicaid is a government insurance program for the needy, and it is paid with federal and state money. It covers about 750,000 of Mississippi’s nearly 3 million residents.

The program comes up for legislative review every few years. The bill would keep it alive beyond the current state budget year, which ends June 30.

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