It's been less than a month since Healthcare for Mississippi officially launched it's campaign to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot in Mississippi. Yesterday, the group announced that it is "reluctantly" suspending its campaign "until there is once again a functional ballot measure process in Mississippi."
Dr. John Gaudet, a pediatrician in Hattiesburg, filed initiative 76.
"We were making progress in that process until last Friday when the ballot initiative option for voters was rendered null and void," said Gaudet.
The state Supreme Court ruled last week that a medical marijuana initiative, passed overwhelmingly by voters last fall, is void because Mississippi's initiative process is outdated. That effectively killed other initiatives already in the works.
Governor Tate Reeves has said he is not in favor of expanding Medicaid in the state. During the 2021 legislative session, the Republican majority legislature declined attempts to make it law.
Corey Wiggins, Executive Director for the Mississippi NAACP, says elected officials have to answer to the 200,000 working Mississippians currently in need of affordable healthcare.
"When our lawmakers come back into session in January of early next year, they have the opportunity to make sure that citizens across the state have health insurance by expanding Medicaid," said Wiggins. "The reason that we went to the ballot on this issue is because they failed to act."
Mississippi is one of 12 states that hasn't expanded Medicaid.
