Mississippi
Mississippi Medicaid: Gender-affirming care for kids is not ‘safe and effective’
![Mississippi Medicaid: Gender-affirming care for kids is not ‘safe and effective’ Mississippi Medicaid: Gender-affirming care for kids is not ‘safe and effective’](https://mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/3X0A0894-scaled.jpg)
The Mississippi Division of Medicaid is the primary state company to take a public place on gender affirming care to transgender youngsters, stating there’s not sufficient medical literature to assist that it’s a “secure and efficient therapy for gender dysphoria.”
In a letter to managed care firms that contract with Medicaid, Govt Director Drew Snyder wrote that the company concurs with its counterpart in Florida that there’s not sufficient proof that “intercourse reassignment by way of medical intervention” is secure. Florida’s report was launched in June of final yr.
Snyder didn’t reply to a name and textual content to his private cellular phone Thursday afternoon. His letter was addressed to executives of Molina Healthcare of Mississippi, UnitedHealthCare Group & State MS and Magnolia Well being Plan. Communications officers with the three firms didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
“Because the care coordination organizations for almost all of youngsters and adolescents enrolled in Mississippi Medicaid, your enter is welcome on approaches to successfully deal with any well being wants with out posing dangerous unintended effects or irreversible modifications,” he wrote.
It’s unclear if Snyder’s letter has any impact on what providers are presently coated, or why he reached out to the managed care firms as an alternative of suppliers of gender-affirming care. If the company does decide to exclude this therapy, it could be a part of a handful of states already doing so. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas all have Medicaid insurance policies that particularly exclude transgender well being protection, based on the Motion Development Venture.
The Feb. 15 letter first reported by the Magnolia Tribune comes as a invoice is working its method by way of the Legislature that may ban this sort of therapy for trans minors in Mississippi. Home Invoice 1125 would forestall the state’s roughly 2,400 trans youngsters and their households from getting hormone remedy or puberty blockers within the state.
Snyder’s letter contradicts the recommendation and place of main medical associations within the U.S. on gender-affirming care. It’s evidence-based, and never thought-about “experimental” by the vast majority of the medical neighborhood.
Also referred to as the “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures” (REAP) Act, the invoice bans Mississippi medical doctors from performing gender-confirmation surgical procedure or prescribing medicine akin to puberty blockers or hormones to these beneath 18.
The invoice would enable for the medical doctors’ licenses to be revoked and create a “civil declare of motion” for them to be sued with a 30-year statute of limitations. It could prohibit insurers or Medicaid from reimbursing households for such procedures and would strip medical doctors who present them of the state’s beneficiant tort claims protections.
READ MORE: What to find out about gender-affirming care in Mississippi
Gender-affirming care, or “intercourse reassignment” as Mississippi officers have known as it, refers to a broad vary of interventions, from medical therapy to psychological and social assist, that goals to affirm a person’s gender identification, particularly when it’s totally different from the one they have been assigned at delivery, based on the World Well being Group.
Many years of analysis assist gender-affirming care as the correct therapy for gender dysphoria, the misery trans folks can expertise when their bodily options don’t match their gender identification.
Analysis has repeatedly proven that gender-affirming care considerably boosts the possibilities that trans youngsters will reside to see maturity. A research printed final yr within the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Affiliation discovered that over the course of a yr, gender-affirming care was related to 60% diminished odds of average to extreme melancholy and 73% much less odds of suicidal ideas.
Stacie Tempo, the co-owner of Spectrum: The Different Clinic, mentioned that the 2 essential worldwide medical organizations that write pointers for gender-affirming care — the World Skilled Affiliation for Transgender Well being and the Endocrine Society — cite lots of of references and are straightforward to seek out on the web.
“All it takes is only a fast Google, and all this analysis is true there in entrance of you,” she mentioned.
There are three essential types of gender-affirming medical therapy: Puberty blockers, that are just for youngsters, hormone remedy and gender-confirmation surgical procedure. In Mississippi, there isn’t any clinic that performs any form of gender-confirmation surgical procedure on minors, based on in-state suppliers of gender-affirming care.
Puberty blockers are medicines that pause puberty in youngsters. Analysis has proven the results are reversible. Whereas hormone remedy could cause some everlasting results, akin to a deeper voice, it sometimes takes at the very least a yr for this to happen, Tempo mentioned.
However Tempo added that many different unintended effects of hormone remedy, like elevated muscle mass or the event of breast tissue, will disappear over time if a affected person ceases therapy.
“It can take about so long as it took for it to happen, however it should go away,” she mentioned.
Alex Mills, a pharmacist who has labored with trans folks, mentioned he was confused by the letter. Whereas a minority of his sufferers are on Medicaid, he hasn’t heard of Medicaid overlaying prescriptions for hormone remedy for trans adults since he began working in Jackson three years in the past. If Medicaid coated prescriptions for his outspoken sufferers, Mills mentioned they might inform him.
“I really feel like they’re simply form of leaping on the bandwagon,” he mentioned. “It’s an irrelevant remark, as a result of they (Medicaid) haven’t been overlaying (hormone remedy), so I’m simply confused why they’re even saying this. Simply to say it?”
Mills mentioned Medicaid has coated medical visits, however that he doesn’t know if it has coated puberty blockers, which will be dear – as much as $1,500 for a single shot that lasts a month. Hormone remedy is cheaper, so Mills recommends sufferers use GoodRx coupons to make their prescriptions extra inexpensive.
At Spectrum, Tempo mentioned only one youth affected person is presently on Medicaid. However of the clinic’s roughly 1,000 grownup sufferers, about half are Medicaid beneficiaries.
The Division of Medicaid has not taken a stance on different points being thought-about by the Legislature. A kind of is extending postpartum care from 60 days to 1 yr for brand spanking new moms, which Speaker of the Home Philip Gunn mentioned he has requested the company to do.
When a committee tasked with advising Medicaid about well being and medical care providers voted unanimously in October to suggest that the Legislature prolong postpartum protection, the Division of Medicaid nonetheless didn’t take a stance.
The State Board of Medical Licensure, which might implement the invoice’s provision revoking suppliers’ licenses, has not responded to questions from Mississippi At present. The College of Mississippi Medical Middle, which has offered gender-affirming care to trans youngsters at its LGBTQ-focused TEAM Clinic, mentioned earlier this month that “now we have no remark for now.”
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Mississippi
Arizona State eyes first win against an SEC opponent vs. Mississippi State
Mississippi State at Arizona State, Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
BetMGM College Football Odds: Arizona State by 6 1/2.
Series record: First meeting.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Arizona State and Mississippi State both had dominant wins in the season-opening weekend and now have a tougher challenge when they face each other on Saturday night. The Sun Devils are trying to build off an impressive 48-7 win over Wyoming and prove they might be a factor in the Big 12 race. Arizona State has never beaten an SEC opponent. Mississippi State plays its second game under new coach Jeff Lebby. The Bulldogs beat Eastern Kentucky 56-7 in their season opener..
KEY MATCHUP
Mississippi State QB Blake Shapen vs. the Arizona State defense. The Sun Devils scored a touchdown on the second play of their opener when Zyrus Fiaseu picked off a pass and returned it to the end zone. It was one of two interceptions on the day for Arizona State. Shapen had a great debut against Eastern Kentucky but will face a much tougher defense on Saturday.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Mississippi State: Shapen had a terrific first game with the Bulldogs, throwing for 247 yards and three touchdowns while also running for 44 yards and a TD against Eastern Kentucky. The 6-foot-1 senior played the previous three college seasons at Baylor with mixed success. Shapen has thrown a TD pass in 12 consecutive games dating to this time at Baylor in 2022.
Arizona State: RB Cam Skattebo led a balanced rushing attack against Wyoming, gaining 49 yards and scoring a touchdown. Skattebo was a do-it-all player for Arizona State last year, spending time at quarterback, running back and receiver. The Sun Devils might not need him to be as versatile this season, but he’s still a threat from just about anywhere on the field.
FACTS & FIGURES
Mississippi State had six different players score touchdowns against Eastern Kentucky. … The Bulldogs’ 93.7 passing grade in the opener was the second-best mark in all of the FBS, trailing only Purdue, according to Pro Football Focus. … Mississippi State’s Kevin Coleman Jr. returned five punts for 117 yards last week. … Arizona State was credited with just two missed tackles on defense in the opener, tied for the third-lowest tally among FBS schools. … Skattebo is 270 rushing yards away from reaching 3,000 in his career. He is 342 all-purpose yards away from reaching 4,000 and 202 receiving yards away from reaching 1,000.
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Mississippi
How Mississippi State football is preparing for Arizona State weather, late kickoff
![How Mississippi State football is preparing for Arizona State weather, late kickoff How Mississippi State football is preparing for Arizona State weather, late kickoff](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/09/03/PNAS/75060541007-usatsi-24129028.jpg?auto=webp&crop=5472,3078,x0,y0&format=pjpg&width=1200)
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football is preparing to play a team that, at least through one game, looks vastly improved from last season.
Coach Jeff Lebby admitted on Monday, and Bulldog players have noticed it too after Arizona State (1-0) thumped Wyoming 48-7 in its opener.
MSU (1-0) must also factor in the late kickoff that is scheduled Saturday (9:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Mississippi is hot, but so is Arizona — a different kind of hot, too.
Modifications and remedies are being made, such as the team leaving Starkville on Thursday instead of how it normally would on a Friday for a Saturday game.
“For our guys, just knowing exactly what we are getting into,” Lebby said. “We continue to talk about that through yesterday and this morning and (are) having those conversations to understand what it’s going to look like late in the week. We got to do a great job from a preparation standpoint of how we are hydrating, how we are eating and how we are resting to give us the ability to go on the road on this flight and be able to be at our best Saturday night.”
Just this week, Phoenix broke a record with its 100th straight day of 100-degree temperatures. According to AccuWeather, the high on Saturday in Tempe will be 107 degrees with a low of 86. The temperature should dip to around 91 near kickoff with a humidity of 24%.
“Coach Lebby has already been harping on that,” tight end Justin Ball said. “We’ve already been hydrating and making sure we are getting rest every single day. We leave on Thursday, so we already talked about the plan to make sure we are hydrating the entire plane ride there, making sure when we get there we get acclimated as quickly as you can and just staying together. Making sure we’re focused, make sure we keep the goal first and then execute the game plan.”
MORE: Jeff Lebby says Mississippi State football didn’t put on a good enough show. Here’s how he’s wrong
Mississippi State played well the last time it played in Arizona
The Bulldogs played Arizona in Tucson two seasons ago. They squandered a pedestrian Wildcats team 39-17. Kickoff for that game was at 8 p.m. PST though the temperature was 84 degrees at game time.
Not many players remain on Mississippi State’s roster from that 2022 season. But the ones who are, like linebacker Nic Mitchell, can benefit from the experience and also share it with teammates.
“We know it’s going to be a long flight, so we know we got to be hydrated,” Mitchell said. “It gives people experience that have done it before and they can tell the young guys how it’s going to be in the flight, how you got to hydrate and stuff like that.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Mississippi
Playing for Mississippi State not an option for Arizona State back Kyson ‘Sipp’ Brown
Arizona State forces 3 turnovers in win over Wyoming to start 2024
All offseason, coach Kenny Dillingham preached getting turnovers. Forty seconds into the season’s first game, the defense produced its first one.
Sophomore running back Kyson Brown is one of the faster players on the Arizona State football team. But Brown seems to have a little more pep in his step this week. Why? Well, the Sun Devils (1-0) are set to take on Mississippi State (1-0) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Mountain America Stadium.
Sure an SEC opponent is enough to get any athlete fired up. But the 6-foot, 200-pounder hails from Tupelo, Mississippi, which is where he got his nickname, Sipp. Tupelo is 67 miles north of the Mississippi State campus in Starkville that Sipp has visited a handful of times.
“I have family, growing up they were all Mississipp State fans and some Ole Miss fans,” he said. “Some of my family are debating whether they want to cheer for me or not. It’s going to be good. A lot of hometown friends. Got a couple guys I went to high school with there. It’s going to be good seeing those guys and hopefully, we compete at a good level and get the W.”
Brown, a mechanical engineering major, is enrolled in ASU’s Barret honors program, He emerged as one of the team’s most improved players. He saw some time on special teams as a true freshman in 2023 and has set himself up for a bigger role, although the ASU backfield has a lot of depth.
In the last week’s 48-7 win over Wyoming, Brown pitched in with six rushing attempts for 25 yards and two receptions for 73 yards. His 68-yard touchdown reception was the longest play from scrimmage that ASU had on the night.
“It felt amazing just to get back in the end zone again,” Brown said. “You come out of high school, you know I’m used to being in the end zone every game, all the time. That play, I knew — once I made the first guy miss — I knew I wasn’t going to let anybody catch me.”
Brown lived in Mississippi until moving to Lancaster, Texas, outside of Dallas, after his sophomore year of high school. He sat out junior year after the transfer. As a senior he averaged 9.5 yards per carry, finishing with 707 yards and 11 touchdowns on 74 carries while adding 14 receptions for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
Sitting out his junior year hurt his recruiting, but he still had notable offers from Purdue, Missouri and Houston. The balance of his options were lower-profile schools. Mississippi State didn’t offer.
He is happy with the end result. A place on the ASU football roster. In the offseason, he worked on his agility, flexibility and catching the ball, which was evident in his recent scoring play.
“We all have the big-play potential,” he said of his fellow running backs. “I feel my role is to make plays, wherever they put me be able to perform.”
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