The Mississippi Hospital Association recently announced the development of a new health insurance model that would leverage Medicaid expansion dollars under the Affordable Care Act, and merge these into an insurance product through Mississippi True to form a new insurance program for Medicaid-expansion eligible citizens. This plan, called Mississippi Cares, would extend Medicaid benefits to the prescribed 138% of the poverty level as according to ACA guidelines, but it would require enrollees to be a part of the private health insurance company with a $25 per month premium. They would then receive all Medicaid benefits, and all providers would bill such claims to the provider-owned health insurance plan for reimbursement.
This new model is proposed at this time, but has drawn a great deal of support from healthcare professionals and industry leaders. Now Vice President Mike Pence and CMS Secretary Seema Verma launched this plan when they served in leadership in Indiana. Dubbed “PenceCare,” this plan links public funds with private industry to help solve one of Mississippi’s greatest healthcare issues, providing health insurance for the working poor.
More to come on the development of this new insurance model.
Mississippi Rural Health Association 