Religious leaders urge lawmakers to fully expand Medicaid in Mississippi

There was but one demand made by religious leaders and hundreds of people who gathered Tuesday on the southern steps of the Mississippi State Capitol Building regarding Medicaid expansion efforts in the Mississippi Legislature:

"Full expansion now!"

That message came booming from the voices of more than 120 people sitting on the capitol steps as religious leaders from several faiths urged lawmakers to expand the state's Medicaid program and declare April 16 as Medicaid Expansion Day.

"We come together this afternoon as people of faith, believing that God wants all of his children to have a whole life, an abundant life, a healthy life," said Rev. Reginal Buckley, of the Baptist General Convention of Mississippi. "A life that is whole spiritually and a life that is whole physically. As a state that is proud of its pro-life stance, it is only fitting that this legislature now leans into the opportunity to make it possible for all Mississippians across this state to have full access to healthcare."

The call to action for lawmakers came just days after Lt. Gov Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Jason White, R-West, made conference committee appointments to iron out a compromise between the House and Senate Medicaid expansion plan. Some of those conferees told the Clarion Ledger they hope to meet before Friday to start that process.

read more about Medicaid conferees See which MS House, Senate lawmakers were picked to iron out a Medicaid expansion plan

Differences between the House and Senate's approach to Medicaid expansion include whether to accept billions of dollars in federal aid, how many people would actually be covered and how many hours per week those people would have to work to be eligible for the state's Medicaid program, to name a few.

Read House and Senate Medicaid plans Mississippi Medicaid expansion bill likely heading to added committee for compromise

Brittany Caldwell, the coordinator of community engagement for Great Rivers Fellowship in Natchez, urged lawmakers to take full advantage of the federal government's match of up to $1 billion for Mississippi to expand Medicaid.

"We have been spending the morning talking to our legislators and asking them to not stop short of the goal of covering our residents up to 138% of the federal poverty line," she said. "(We want them) to take advantage of the 90% federal match and the federal incentive money that will pay for expansion for the first four years. It's simple, it's more people covered for less state dollars."

The Rev. Jeff Parker, pastor of South Side Baptist Church in Jackson, said that to call Medicaid expansion a political issue was an un-Christian attitude and that giving health insurance coverage to all of the state's people was something anyone, regardless of political affiliations, should want.

"I was warned as a Southern Baptist Republican that this issue of expanding Medicaid might possibly brand me as a liberal or that I am leaving my party affiliation," Parker said. "My response was simple, you Christians to which the individual claim to be, cannot have it both ways. I finally said to him if you choose not (to expand), then you will stand and hear the indictment of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he said I was hungry, and you did not feed me. I am Thirsty, you did not (give me water). Naked, you did not clothe me. I am sick, you did not see after me and in prison you did nothing, and I looked at him and I finally said, 'Are we reading the same Bible?'"

Rabbi Joseph Rosen said that if lawmakers decide to continue without expanding Medicaid, it would be a "death of society."

"It is Jewish tradition that teaches that to save one life is to save all of humanity," Rosen said. "To let a life die is as if experiencing the death of humanity. We're gathered here, because we have an opportunity to save all of humanity for eternity 166,000 times over. If we do nothing, we're allowing the death of our society. We're allowing the destructive attitude that has persisted as we allow people to continue to suffer."

But religious leaders were not the only ones advocating for Medicaid expansion Tuesday.

Leah Hendrix, a woman who went on Medicaid after giving birth to a premature baby in the early 2010s, said that while she and her husband, who was in training for job in the medical field, had support from family to help pay for medical bills for the newborn, they went on Medicaid.

That move proved a better option for their child's medical care as the state's Medicaid program was more efficient and less costly than her private insurance. Both the House and Senate Medicaid plan would bar any eligible Medicaid recipient from applying for 12 months if they drop a private insurance policy.

"Our private insurance was slow to pay, and our deductibles and premiums were very high, so I was not expecting much from a 'government system,'" she said. "Medicaid was the best insurance we ever had. It paid for all of her hospital bills, her doctor bills, her little ambulance ride, her MRIs and her other scans … Some may say that my husband and I didn't need this and that would be true, but what about those people who don't have family to help? What about those people who have a baby who is so sick, a baby who won't be coming home for a year and a half and will be on an oxygen tank or feeding tube? Despite the stereotypes of Medicaid, there's so much good. This is the insurance that helps children who have no other choice."

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Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Religious leaders in Mississippi urge Legislature to expand Medicaid