Leaders discuss healthcare, Medicaid expansion for Sunday MLK Weekend celebration panel – Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

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Reporter
TUPELO – Health and policy leaders gathered virtually to discuss Medicaid expansion and its relevance to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s work Sunday afternoon as part of the Committee for King’s (CFK) Weekend Celebration.
The panel was livestreamed on the CFK website and Facebook page from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Last year, CFK held a multi-month series of discussions. During the health and wellness segment, Medicaid was discussed.
“It seemed like such a pertinent topic to delve into a little deeper, considering what’s going on with the legislature and funding and all of that, and the significance of that on our population,” said CFK chairperson Shawn Brevard. “When you think about Dr. King’s work, it just resonated for our organization.”
This year’s panel was moderated by former state legislator and current ACLU Mississippi Executive Director Jarvis Dortch.The four panelists were District 6 State Senator Chad McMahan, IMA in Tupelo primary care physician Dr. Vernon Rayford, Mississippi Alliance of Nonprofits and Philanthropy Policy Director Jamie Rasberry and president and Chief Executive Officer of North Mississippi Health Services Shane Spees. The panelists were selected to bring a mix of local and state voices, Brevard said.
COVID-19 added additional challenges that highlight the need for better collaboration to meet basic needs, Rasberry said. For the uninsured and low-income in the state, nonprofits are the safety net that fills the gaps, whether that’s feeding people, providing vaccinations, paying the utilities bills, providing child services or other needs.
“Our nonprofits are really struggling with being able to stay on top . . . (and) have the funding to continue the services that they were offering before,” Rasberry said. “Now you’ve kind of layer all of these other issues that our world is facing right now, and it just puts more of a burden on our nonprofits.”
As a local physician, Rayford shared a man-on-the-street view, dealing with individuals directly through his primary care work. In the absence of insurance coverage, people forgo primary care or only seek emergency care. While there are free health services, they are limited.
He’s volunteered in Chickasaw and Quitman counties, where even emergency care access is a greater challenge. Mississippi has seen a crisis of rural hospitals closing, which translates to people traveling further to get care. In extreme cases, the lack of access translates to increased numbers of people dying of preventable causes, Rayford learned through conversations with the Quitman coroner.
“The government has an opportunity to take care of what the priorities are, and health is an important priority,” Rayford said.
From a policy perspective, Spees and McMahan emphasized the need for health insurance expansion, while also noting that it does not necessarily have to be Medicaid-expansion.
Spees noted that approximately 30% of visits to emergency rooms are from people with insurance, with the majority of them coming for primary-care-type needs.
“That expensive ER visit just puts them back even further in their own individual financial situation,” Spees said. “We know that medical debt is the highest cause for individual personal bankruptcy now, and so it’s just that vicious cycle that Dr. Rayford mentioned.”
Spees offered the Arkansas-model as a potential alternative to Medicaid-expansion.
McMahan, a Republican lawmaker, acknowledged the divisive nature of Medicaid-expansion, but said the issue of healthcare expansion was among one of the important components to attract people to move, stay and build lives and businesses in Mississippi. McMahan shared that there will be Medicaid hearings this summer in the state senate, but said he would like to broaden those committee hearings to include a large group of individuals to provide a plan to provide better healthcare and healthcare outcomes for Mississippi families.
“Healthcare is not a man or a woman or a Democrat or Republican issues. It’s an everybody issue,” McMahan said. “I think what we need to do is sit down and come up with a comprehensive program of what we can do, working together as Mississippians, to bring healthcare to all Mississippians.”
The celebration concludes Monday, January 17 with the Modern Beautician’s Club program at the former VF Factory Outlet parking area at 2824 South Eason Blvd in Tupelo. There will be a 10:15 a.m. scholarship recognition, followed by an 11 a.m. motorcade. Cars can line up as soon as 9 a.m.
Videos of MLK Weekend celebration events will be made available on CFK’s website.
Monday is the final day of the Socks & Skivvies drive to collect socks and undergarments for those in need as part of MLK National Day of Service. More information can be found on the Committee for King Facebook page or website at https://www.committeeforking.org. It can also be found on the Volunteer Hub of NE MS Facebook page or website.
danny.mcarthur@djournal.com
Reporter
Danny, the community voices reporter, covers social issues and nonprofits for the Daily Journal.
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You’ll receive our top headlines each morning at 7:40, and each weekday afternoon at 4:10.
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