JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi's Republican legislative leaders said Thursday that they plan to push for Medicaid expansion to cover working people who earn too little to afford private insurance — a position that business groups have advocated but that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves opposes.
House Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann spoke about their 2025 policy priorities to hundreds of business people and community leaders at Hobnob, a social gathering hosted by Mississippi Economic Council, the state chamber of commerce.
Medicaid expansion is an option under the health overhaul that then-President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010. Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the U.S.
, and it’s one of 10 states that have not expanded the program. The vast majority of funding for the expansion would come from the federal government, but the state would have to cover some costs. Reeves, though, refers to Medicaid as “welfare” and has frequently said he does not want more people to enroll.
The governor usually speaks at Hobnob , which is held at the Mississippi Coliseum on the state fairgrounds. But he did not appear at the event this year. MEC and two other business groups — the Mississippi Manufacturers Association and the Business and Industry Political Education Committee — released a joint statement in April when legislative leaders were negotiating over the possibility of Medicaid expansion.
The groups said expanding access to health care would .