Mississippi
Mississippi Medicaid Expansion: Don’t Lose a Friend Over This
- Pepper Crutcher discusses the complexities of Medicaid expansion.
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Raymond Chandler, The High Window
That’s typically true of legislation that seeks to solve complex problems. How you see the House-passed Medicaid Expansion bill probably depends on your pre-existing point of view. The Mississippi House passed HB 1725 with a vote of 98-20 on February 28, advancing it to the Mississippi Senate.
Everyone would like to see reliable, relevant data about a truly comparable, prior State expansion, but no such data is available. Since we have little more than confirmation bias to inform us, none should question the character or motives of those who see this differently. Here’s a short, over-simplified explanation of why this topic confounds so many who sincerely want to get it right.
Who would be eligible for expanded Mississippi Medicaid coverage?
There are 15 coverage categories; low Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) alone won’t suffice. To qualify under the most restrictive category, non-disabled adults with dependents, your MAGI must be very low indeed. Typically, these are households with reported income from part-time or sporadic employment at or just above the minimum wage. Mississippi has the option to raise this limit to 138% of the Federal Poverty Limit (FPL), thereby drawing a more generous federal Medicaid match – currently up to 95% of qualifying expenditures.
HB 1725 goes all-in. Even if CMS (the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) disapproves the bill’s work requirement, full expansion will happen; so says section 1(f) of HB 1725. Mississippi Medicaid would no longer cover only the abjectly impoverished; it would cover many people with full-time jobs that pay more than the minimum wage.
When would Mississippi Medicaid expansion become effective?
Even if CMS denies Mississippi’s work requirement request, the enrolled expansion population would be covered beginning January 1, 2025, based on HB 1725 as passed by the House.
What is the difference between Medicaid and “Obamacare”?
Medicaid is a federal/state health insurance program administered mostly by states but funded, in the poorest states, almost entirely with federal dollars. Payments to providers are, in most situations, lower than private insurance or Medicare payments.
Currently, there is a gap between the upper MAGI limit for adult Mississippi Medicaid and the lower limit of “Obamacare” subsidy eligibility. Mississippi households with income 100% to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level are eligible to buy federally subsidized, privately issued health insurance plans through Healthcare.gov – the “Obamacare” web site. See for yourself. Go there, enter single member household, minimum wage, full-time job numbers (amounting to $14,720 annually) and the site’s calculator will tell you that your income is too high for Mississippi Medicaid but that you are eligible for Obamacare subsidies.
Through “Advance Premium Tax Credits,” the Feds pay all Obamacare premiums for households with incomes between 100% and 150% of the FPL. There also are “Cost Sharing Reduction” subsidies, but, even with them, beneficiaries may have to bear several thousand dollars annually of “out-of-pocket” (OOP) costs that they would not bear if Medicaid had covered the same medical expenses.
What’s the problem?
Lest this article become a book, let’s just scratch the surface. Should HB 1725 become law as passed by the House, the upper Medicaid adult MAGI limit will substantially overlap the lower limit of Obamacare subsidies. Healthcare.gov will redirect Mississippi applicants to Medicaid if they enter Medicaid-qualifying MAGI numbers, reducing federal expense for that household’s coverage (100% of premiums plus cost sharing reduction subsidies), while increasing State expense (5% of covered costs of care for the expansion population). The added Mississippi Medicaid burden of the newly enrolled would be known in percentage terms but unknown in absolute dollar – i.e., budgetary – terms. The State’s cost could be raised further by small employer decisions to drop their plans. Some people now working full time for their employer-sponsored insurance might quit or go part time, and Mississippi already has the nation’s lowest workforce participation rate. HB 1725 anticipates this and directs the Division of Medicaid to make coverage hoppers wait a year to enroll in Medicaid. Just like the work requirement, this would require CMS approval.
Plus, enforcement mechanisms and capacities are unclear. If the people dropping from employer insurance plans tend to be younger and healthier than average, those plan terms and premiums may get worse as claim experience trends badly. Some small employers might become uninsurable, effectively. In the worst-case scenario, expansion might solve much of the Obamacare OOP problem for current uninsureds while creating a new group of uninsureds who would be less likely to qualify for full Obamacare subsidies. A similar expansion consequence could wreck Mississippi Obamacare. About 286,000 Mississippians are enrolled in a 2024 Healthcare.gov plan.
If insurers expect most of them to shift to 2025 Medicaid, will those insurers compete for the shrunken 2025 Healthcare.gov business? How much would the remaining insurer(s) raise premiums in response to what they may see as increased risk? If rates spike or if insurers bail out, many new uninsureds could fall in a new gap between expanded Medicaid and employer-provided coverage.
What could go right?
“Only two people know the future: God and a fool,” says the Lebanese proverb. Medicaid expansion worries may turn out to have been excessive. Expansion might cost the State little, solve the Obamacare OOP problem, throw a lifeline to struggling providers, increase workforce participation, and not wreck the Obamacare exchange program. An old joke, told by Milton Berle, is an apt one: “Two Irishmen are leaving a bar …. What? It could happen!” This, too, could happen. In hindsight, expansion proponents might seem to have been prescient.
But everyone is guessing. If your friend’s guess doesn’t match yours, he or she should remain your friend. Let it be so, please.
Permanent daylight saving time in New Jersey
House approves permanent DST: NJ gets later sunsets year-round but darker winter mornings; sunrise could be ~8:25 a.m.
Are Americans finally done changing the clocks twice a year? Congress moved a step closer to ending the ritual after the U.S. House passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent.
It hasn’t been approved by the Senate yet, but it did pass the House with broad support (308-117). If it passes the Senate, it could be signed by President Donald Trump or become law without his signature, unless he vetoes it.
Trump has previously backed ending twice-a-year time changes.
“I am going to work very hard to see The Sunshine Protection Act signed into Law. It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’” he wrote in a May Truth Social post.
A few versions of the Sunshine Protection Act were introduced in Congress. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Florida, introduced the one that’s gaining ground last year.
Here’s what to know about daylight saving time and the move to change it.
What is daylight saving time and why do we use it?
Daylight saving time is the practice of setting clocks forward an hour from March until November in an effort to gain more sunlight during the summer months.
According to the Library of Congress, it was first enacted in 1918 as a fuel cost-saving measure during World War I.
Daylight saving time became federal law under the Uniform Time Act of 1966. Under the law, some states can opt to exempt themselves from daylight saving time.
Would Mississippi keep daylight saving time year-round?
In 2021, the Mississippi Legislature passed a law saying the state plans to stick with daylight saving time year-round. But that only takes effect if Congress changes the federal law to let states adopt it all the time. A bill updating the effective date died in committee in the 2026 session.
Nineteen states, including Mississippi, are ready to make daylight saving time permanent if Congress changes the law to make the twice-a-year time shift optional, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
How later sunrises would affect Mississippi
Sunrise and sunset times in summer would look the same.
But the period from November to March would be different. The amount of daylight would be the same, just shifted an hour later than usual.
Mississippi could expect the latest winter sunrises around 7:59 a.m. in mid-January. The earliest sunsets would shift from about 4:46 p.m. in early December to 5:46 p.m., according to timeanddate.com.
Why permanent daylight saving time failed before
Yes. Congress did drop Daylight Saving Time before.
The move failed in 1974 after parents worried about kids going to school before dawn, risking more vehicle crashes.
Some parts of the country, like Michigan or Indiana, don’t see sunrise until after 9 a.m. with the permanent daylight saving time.
When clocks fall back in 2026
Clocks will “fall back” from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, unless Congress changes the law.
Daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November each year, under current law. That’s when we get back that missing hour of sleep from the spring time change.
Does Mississippi change clocks twice a year?
Yes. Mississippi, which is in the Central time zone, observes daylight saving time.
What time is it in Mississippi?
Visit timeanddate.com to see the current time in Jackson.
Which states don’t observe daylight saving time?
Most of the U.S. participates in daylight saving time except for Hawaii and most of Arizona. The Navajo Nation in the northeast corner of the state does participate.
Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with USA TODAY Network. Email her at bbolden@usatodayco.com.
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. Keep up with her on X @melinakh and Instagram @bymelinakhan.
Mississippi
Mississippi teen accused of killing elderly couple had worked for them before shooting: family
A teenager in Mississippi knew the elderly couple he’s accused of killing before sparking a standoff with law enforcement, according to new testimony in court.
Cordarius Hobbs, 17, is charged with killing 74-year-old Billy Blair and his 71-year-old wife Virginia Carol Blair during a home break-in on June 3 in Mendenhall, Mississippi.
Family members of Hobbs testified during the Thursday preliminary hearing that he knew the couple.
Family members testified that Hobbs did work for the Blairs for things like cleaning around the house before the alleged shooting, according to WAPT.
Billy Newsome, Hobbs’ grandfather, said he believes his grandson was called to work on the day of the alleged shooting but believes he’s innocent.
“My grandson used to work for the man, why you gone rob a man that you work for,” Newsome said. “Why you gone stay there that long and you know the police out there, and then you gone wait until everybody gets there to run, it just ain’t adding up, something just ain’t right here.”
On June 3, three contractors installing a generator at the Blairs’ home discovered Carol Blair’s car door open with several guns on the seats around 10 a.m., prompting them to call the Simpson County Sheriff’s Department for a welfare check at 11:30 a.m, according to a Mississippi Bureau of Investigation investigator.
By noon, the investigator said that officers arrived and were met with shots fired at them, starting a nearly two-hour-long standoff.
Hobbs was captured after trying to run away from officers, the official said, adding that the teen was unarmed when he was caught.
Carol Blair was found in a bedroom curled in the fetal position and had three gunshots to the back of her head. Bill Blair was found lying on his back in the kitchen with three gunshot wounds to his face.
The state investigator said three firearms were found inside the home as well as 280 shell casings, all owned by Bill Blair.
Hobbs’ defense attorney, Zachary Vaugh, argued that there’s a lack of direct forensic evidence connecting the teenager to the shooting.
“There was nothing to say he’s a principal, he’s the one that pulled the trigger on these things,” Vaugh said. “One of the things alone was, one of the victims was shot twice on one side of the head and once on the other. I think that’s pretty compelling that somebody else may have been in there. There’s a lot of things that are possible, just a tremendous amount of things.”
“When you have an officer say there’s no one that can identify him at the time of the shooting, I just don’t see how that adds up,” he said.
Hobbs is charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of burglary, in addition to 10 other charges. He was denied bond.
In a statement on Facebook, the couple’s family previously said, “We are crushed in spirit, bruised, and brokenhearted, but we are not alone.”
Jason Busby, who was friends with the couple, remembered them as being extremely selfless when speaking with WLBT.
“The man would’ve given you the shirt off his back, his wife is the same, and they’re just great people. It’s just a tragedy,” Busby said. “Everybody around here is still in shock. They were just good people.”
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Staff
The Mississippi State Legislature will return for a special session not on redistricting, as many conservative politicians have called for, but to resolve issues with youth court and records protection.
Gov. Tate Reeves called the Legislature back into Jackson on July 14 for a special session beginning the next day, July 15, at 3 p.m.
“I am hopeful — and even optimistic — that members of both political parties can and will vote for this common-sense legislation that will help children and families all across Mississippi,” Reeves wrote in a post on X.
The issue stems from statutes that used to govern youth court records. The statutes were put in place to protect the personally identifiable information of children in the youth court system, including those who are under the care of Child Protection Services.
The Legislature is responsible for making the laws and renewing them when they are set to be repealed, but the body did not do so before the end of the legislative session in April. The statutes were repealed on June 30, and CPS employees have been left scrambling to engage in court proceedings without illegally sharing private information about vulnerable children.
Leadership in both chambers have been discussing the new laws governing youth court since the end of the session, and Reeves wrote that he was pleased with the bill that they are set to propose at the special session.
“The agreed upon solution (as proposed and agreed by House and Senate leadership) sets up a far better system for both kids who are abused and neglected, as well as those children facing delinquency proceedings,” he wrote. “For the first time, children and families will have access to full-time judges and moves us toward a uniform youth court system statewide.”
Bea Anhuci is the state government reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She has covered Mississippi politics since the start of 2026. Email her at banhuci@usatodayco.com.
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