Enroll America, a national health care enrollment coalition, has tracked every county in the United States' health care Marketplace enrollment numbers using data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Using the same data, The New York Times reported that the number of Mississippians without health insurance has grown over the past year.
In all but six counties in the state, the number of uninsured people has increased. In Hinds County, 17 percent of Mississippians were uninsured in 2014—now that number is 18 percent. In other parts of the state, low enrollment numbers in Affordable Care Act plans saw greater change. In Neshoba County, for example, the number of uninsured residents jumped from 17 percent to 26 percent in the past year.
Mississippi's Republican leadership has opted to not expand Medicaid, and Medicaid enrollment has been on the decline since then, according to the state division's report.
In July, 737,854 Mississippians were enrolled in Medicaid; now, 730,354 Mississippians are enrolled.
With more Mississippians rolling off insurance plans and the state not expanding Medicaid, many residents find themselves in what The New York Times calls the "Medicaid gap" since they cannot qualify for Affordable Care Act services due to their low incomes. Medicaid expansion will likely be reconsidered in the 2016 Legislative session.
More like this story
- Poll: Majority in State Support Medicaid Expansion, But the Legislature Doesn't
- Report: State's Uninsured Decline Lags Rest of Nation
- Hispanic Kids With Health Insurance at All Time High
- GOP Health Plan Would Affect Older Mississippians, Many Rural Whites
- Expansion of Mississippi Medicaid Unlikely in 2014
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