Mississippi Cares plans to close the health care gap
Timothy Moore, President and CEO of Mississippi Hospital Association, discussed the impact of Mississippi Cares at the state and community level at the Starkville Rotary Club's weekly meeting.
The Mississippi Hospital Association has approximately 96 hospital members and is a statewide trade organization that represents and serves all types of healthcare systems, hospitals, patients and communities.
Moore said the market for the Mississippi Cares model is for individuals who are not on The Affordable Care
Act, commonly known as "Obamacare," but is targeted at adults with incomes above Medicaid's eligibility limits.
“This is not Obamacare. That is one of the first questions we always get. That is not what we are talking about,” Moore said. “These are non-disabled, two-thirds of them working, individuals in the state of Mississippi that don't make enough to be able to afford any kind of health insurance.”
Moore explained Mississippi Cares is seeking to provide coverage to individuals who are 138% below the poverty level. For an individual, that would be as little as $17,000 annual income and for a family of four it would be just under $35,000 yearly.
However, the reform would not only impact those seeking coverage, but Moore expects the reform to improve the situation of Mississippi healthcare providers and hospitals.
“You have seen reduced services across the state of Mississippi,” Moore said. “You have seen layoffs. We have seen four bankruptcies in one-day last year. This will create additional health care jobs and create improved financial stability, specifically for rural and urban hospitals.”
Moore said this project would be funded in a nine to one federal match for $1.35 billion.
“In this plan, participants in the plan would contribute $20 per month or $240 per year,” Moore said. “At 300,000 participants and $240 per person that generates $72,000,000 per year.”
Moore said then hospitals, through an assessment process already in place with the state, would provide the remaining $78,000,000 per year.
It is through this collaborative effort between Mississippians, hospitals and the federal government via subsidies that that the Mississippi Cares plan can be set in place.
“We are creating a publicprivate partnership to make this thing work," Moore said. "This is not some corporate function.”
Despite the worry sometimes expressed over federal subsidies, Moore said these can and should be used to our benefit.
“Not long ago, we were petitioning for a federal subsidy for the fisheries on the coast as a result of all the floods,” Moore said. “I'm all for that, but if you are going to tell me it is right to try to fix the fisheries and not provide health care for the working poor in the state of Mississippi then there's a discussion we need to have.”
For this partnership to occur and for Mississippi Cares to go into action, Moore said there is a series of events that must happen first at the legislative level, one of which is to increase the assessment of state hospitals for federal aid.
“Currently the hospitals across the state of Mississippi are paying $282 million worth of assessments to the state," Moore said. "That's to draw down federal money to pay for various things. We just increase what is happening there and allow Medicaid to assess hospitals for this reform.”
Moore said, outside of legislative efforts, the responsibility lies on voters to understand the plan and discuss its possibilities with their representatives and potential candidates.
“We need folks that we talk to understand our plan, its benefits, how it is funded, especially since it will not cost the state or tax payers money,” Moore said. “You also want to support candidates that support health care and support their communities.”