Healthcare leaders and some state lawmakers are seeking ways to aid the state’s hospitals which are facing high financial strain. Within recent months a maternity ward in Greenwood, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Greenville, and the only burn unit in Mississippi have ceased operations. Richard Roberson, Vice President of Policy and State Advocacy at the Mississippi Hospital Association, says this requires residents to drive long distances to receive essential care.
“It’s going to be a challenge for those patients who need those services and for those communities to be able to get those services back once they’re gone,” says Roberson. “That’s the dire circumstances that we’re facing in many parts of the state because when services go away they don’t easily come back.”
Not only does a community lose healthcare access and hospital staff when there is a closure, but a major economic driver for the area disappears. On Wednesday, the state passed a bill investing nearly $250 million in getting a major economic development project underway, but lawmakers have yet to expand Medicaid. Roberson says this expansion of healthcare coverage for low-income residents can help keep struggling hospitals afloat.
“We can also look at reforms in insurance requirements starting with insurance companies and how they pay claims. Some records that just have come out over the last few days show record profits for insurance companies and record losses for hospitals,”: says Roberson
A recent study found that any investments made into Medicaid expansion would be offset by cost reductions within five years.
