Sam R. Hall: Who knew? Expanding Medicaid woulde good for Mississippi, a new state report shows
Sep. 20—A new Mississippi-specific report confirms what many have argued would happen here if lawmakers were to expand the state's Medicaid program, based on actual results from 38 other states that have already done so.
State economist Corey Miller and senior economist Sondra Collins provided a "fiscal and economic analysis of Medicaid expansion in Mississippi" between 2022-2027, a period of five fiscal years assuming expansion started July 1, 2022.
And, to be clear, the authors wrote, "this report makes no recommendations regarding Medicaid expansion in Mississippi." Instead, it merely looks at the "changes to revenues received and disbursed by state government and the impacts to economic output, employment, personal income, and population" if Mississippi expanded its Medicaid program through the ACA.
What did the report find?
Here's the quick summary:
— Approximately 228,000 to 233,000 Mississippians would be newly enrolled in Medicaid.
— Annual costs — before considering any savings — would be between $186 million to $207 million.
— Annual savings would range from $206 million to $227 million.
— Additional savings in the first two years from the American Rescue Plan would be $306 million in 2022 and $316 million in 2023, enough to pay for three years of expansion alone.
— State revenues would increase by around $44 million each year.
— The state would add an average of 11,300 jobs per year.
— State population would increase by 3,300 to 11,500 new residents per year.
Who is impacted by expansion?
Those 228,000 to 233,000 people who would be added to the Medicaid rolls are not deadbeats refusing to work and trying to suckle at the government teat. They are the working poor. Another recent report by the United Way showed that 33% of Mississippians are considered working poor — people with jobs (often multiple) who still cannot afford basic necessities like groceries, rent, childcare and health care.
How can Mississippi afford it?
The cost is $186 million to $207 million per year. In a void, Mississippi can't afford to spend that kind of money on expansion. However, the expansion is an investment, which this report shows will save enough each year to not only cover the costs but, most likely, have a few million dollars left over.
Then there are the additional savings for the first two years. Those savings alone would pay for three years of expansion, essentially giving the state a three-year head start before even spending a dime of the normal savings.
Mississippi could actually grow
Two things that Mississippi desperately needs right now are more jobs and more people.
We are losing population for a variety of reasons, but lack of employment opportunities and quality-of-life issues are two of the biggest indicators.
Expanding Medicaid addresses both of these issues. First, expansion is estimated to create more than 11,000 jobs per year, on average. Secondly, more people would have access to health care, which would also drive down health care costs because of a reduction in uncompensated care that hospitals have to eat.
Medicaid expansion makes sense
If you're a numbers guy, the numbers are unequivocal: Expand Medicaid.
If you want to run state government like a business, expanding Medicaid is a smart investment that will save money, grow revenue, create jobs, increase population and — most importantly — help working Mississippians get better health care.
And helping the people should be the main goal of government. That — not stubbornly sticking to political talking points or making decisions solely based on personal politics — is what we elect our leaders to do.
SAM R. HALL is executive editor of the Daily Journal. Contact him at 662-678-1586 or sam.hall@djournal.com. Follow @samrhall on Twitter.
