JACINTO, Miss. (AP) — Talking at an occasion Monday, Mississippi Republican state lawmakers have been divided of their assist for brand spanking new insurance policies to enhance well being care outcomes for youngsters and new dad and mom.
At a 4th of July Pageant in Northeast Mississippi, some lawmakers didn’t assist extending postpartum Medicaid protection for moms, The Northeast Mississippi Day by day Journal knowledgeable.
Rep. Bubba Carpenter, R-Burnsville, stated increasing Medicaid protection for brand spanking new moms can be a “slippery slope” as a result of she is one step nearer to a broader enlargement of this system. With the Youngsters’s Well being Insurance coverage Program and two months of Medicaid protection for moms, lawmakers are “doing sufficient,” Carpenter stated.
Medicaid, which supplies well being care protection to low-income individuals, is funded by a mixture of federal and state dollars. Present state Medicaid coverage permits eligible moms who’ve given delivery protection for 60 days.
Knowledge from the Mississippi State Division of Well being discovered that 136 Mississippi moms died throughout being pregnant or inside a 12 months of ending their being pregnant between 2013 and 2016. Of these deaths, 86% of them occurred after supply.
Current Legislative Efforts to increase postpartum Medicaid protection failed in Mississippi, a state with excessive toddler and maternal mortality charges. Republicans have majorities in each homes of the legislature.
Rep. Nick Bain, R-Corinth, stated the Supreme Courtroom’s resolution to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion in america can be a check for anti-abortion legislators.
“In selling life, we’ve to maintain life,” Bain stated. “Now it is as much as us to place our cash the place our mouth is.”
In an announcement responding to the Supreme Courtroom resolution, Mississippi Lawyer Basic Lynn Fitch wrote that lawmakers ought to “weave a security internet to assist girls in tough circumstances.”
When requested concerning the legal professional normal’s assertion, Rep. Steve Hopkins, a Republican from Southaven, was undeterred.
“I might not assist any authorities intervention or coverage,” Hopkins informed The Related Press. “That is an space for the group and the church to step up and develop packages to assist these girls. We’re known as as Christians to assist one another and that’s what we should do, however we should do it solely within the non-public sector.”
