Mississippi Health Insurance

Health insurance in Mississippi

● Mississippi uses the federally managed health insurance market, with residents enrolling through Healthcare.gov.

● Open enrollment for 2021 health insurance in Mississippi runs from November 1 to December 15, 2020. Residents with qualifying events can still enroll or make changes to medical insurance coverage for 2020.

● Short-term health insurance plans can be sold in Mississippi with initial plan terms of up to 364 days.

● Two insurers offer coverage through mississippi's health insurance market; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi only offers plans outside the market.

● Mississippi has refused to accept the expansion of the ACA's Medicaid coverage.

● Nearly 609,000 Mississippi residents have enrolled in Medicare plans since mid-2020.

This page provides Mississippi consumers with information and resources about their health insurance options. Here you will find information about the many types of health insurance available to individuals and families who may not be employed or who are entitled to coverage through government-sponsored programs. All options cover both medical benefits and prescription drugs. You can find the basics of mississippi's health insurance market and the next open enrollment period; a brief overview of Medicaid expansion in Mississippi; a quick look at the availability of short-term health insurance in the state; statistics on state-specific Medicare rules; as well as a collection of health insurance resources for Mississippi residents.

Mississippi's health insurance marketplace

A health insurance exchange or marketplace is basically a website that you can use to sign up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act, which is also called Obamacare. The Affordable Care Act has established the benefits that must be covered by the exchange plans.

In very general terms, Obamacare helps people who aren't enrolled in employer-provided insurance coverage, have too high an income to qualify for Medicaid, or aren't big enough for Medicare. Other pages of this site provide more detailed information to help you find the right kind of specific health plan and program. You can use the health insurance exchange to sign up for health care for you or your family, and to see if you're eligible for subsidies or cost-sharing reductions (CSR) to help you pay monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

Mississippi used to run its own small business health insurance exchange, dubbed One Mississippi, but had abandoned it by 2018 in favor of getting the federal government to manage small business exchange. The federal government, in turn, had chosen to have small businesses enroll directly through insurers by 2018 and no longer operates a small business portal to enroll in health insurance coverage.

Two health plans, Molina and Magnolia/Ambetter, participated in mississippi's health insurance marketplace for 2020. Molina is offering plans in 19 counties in 2020, but is expanding to offer coverage across the state for 2021.

By the end of the 2020 open enrollment period, 98,892 people had enrolled in private individual market plans through mississippi's health insurance market. This was the second year in a row with the increase in enrolments.

Open enrollment period and dates in Mississippi

Open enrollment in Mississippi for 2021 health insurance plans runs from November 1, 2020 to December 15, 2020. All plan selections made during the open enrollment period will have effective dates of January 1, 2021.

Outside of open enrollment in Mississippi, residents must have a qualifying event to enroll or make changes to their coverage. This applies both on the stock exchange and outside the exchange.

Medicaid expansion in Mississippi

In general, Medicaid will provide health insurance for people who are not employed, have a very low income, or are disabled. Eligibility income limits vary by state and adults, children, pregnant women and people with disabilities. Some people qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare.

Medicaid is jointly managed by the state and federal government. The federal government establishes general rules, with each state establishing eligibility-specific guidelines and running the program.

Most states, including Mississippi, contract health plans to run their Medicaid programs.

Mississippi did not expand Medicaid coverage through the Affordable Care Act. The state's decision leaves about 100,000 individuals in what is known as the coverage gap.

Without the expansion of Mississippi Medicaid, non-elderly and non-disabled adults without children are not eligible for Medicaid coverage. Adults with dependent children are eligible for Medicaid coverage only if the family income is 23% or less of the federal poverty level (FPL), which amounts to less than $5,000 in total annual income for a family of three in 2020. Pregnant women are eligible for Medicaid coverage with a family income of up to 194% of the poverty level. Medical eligibility for Mississippi children varies by age and ranges from 133% to 194% of FPL.

Children in Mississippi up to the age of 19 are eligible for children's health insurance if they are not eligible for Medicaid and the family income level is 209% or less of FPL.

Due to the state's decision not to expand, the average monthly Medicaid enrollment has been virtually unchanged since 2013. It increased by only 1%, while the national average enrollment in Medicaid plans increased by 28% from 2013 to 2020. And Mississippi wants to impose a Medicaid work requirement on the current Medicaid population, even though similar waivers in other states have been overturned by judges.

Enrollment in Medicaid plans is open year-round. Visit the Mississippi Division of Medicaid to learn how to apply for Medicaid or CHIP.

Short-term health insurance in Mississippi

Mississippi is not in compliance with current federal rules for short-term health insurance plans. This means that plans sold in the state can have initial terms of up to 364 days and a total duration, including renewals, of up to 36 months.

Mississippi health ratings

The Commonwealth Fund's Scorecard on State Health System Performance ranks the 50 states and D.C. in terms of overall health. Also in 2019, Mississippi maintained its bottom of the barrel, 51st place in the rankings. The high percentage of residents without health insurance in Mississippi is one of the factors that plays a role in the state's poor performance.

Mississippi is also ranked as the least healthy state in the American health rankings.

For more information about Mississippi's health, see Key Health Data About Mississippi from the Trust for America's Health. Data from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin compare the health of Mississippi counties.

Did Obamacare help Mississippi?

98% of Mississippi health insurance enrollees qualified for premium subsidies in 2020, and 87% receive cost-sharing reductions (CSR), which is the highest percentage in the nation (nationally, 86% of enrollees receive premium subsidies, and 50% receive CSR benefits; both are income-based, but Mississippi has a below-average per capita income). These ACA benefits serve to make individual health insurance and health care more affordable and affordable for Mississippi residents than they would be without the ACA.

Mississippi's uns insured rate fell about 29% below the ACA, falling from 17.1% in 2013 to 12.1% in 2018. But the state's uns insured rate remains above the national average. Mississippi has not accepted federal Funding from the ACA to expand Medicaid. The uns insured rate would be considerably lower if they did.

Mississippi lawmakers and the ACA

Mississippi's senators are both Republicans: Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith. Both oppose the ACA and support Mississippi's decision to reject federal funding to expand Medicaid coverage. Hyde-Smith believes the ACA should be repealed, and Wicker proudly touts his record that includes numerous votes to repeal or defund the ACA.

The Mississippi U.S. House delegation includes three Republican representatives and one Democrat.

In the Mississippi state legislature, Republicans have a strong majority in both chambers.

Does Mississippi have a high-risk pool?

Prior to the ACA's reforms in the individual health insurance market, eligibility for private coverage was subordinated to medical history. People with pre-existing conditions were often unable to purchase private plans or could only buy policies that excluded their pre-existing conditions.

The Mississippi Comprehensive Health Insurance Risk Pool (the "Association" or MCHIRPA) was established in 1992 as a means of providing coverage to people who were unable to purchase full plans in the private market due to pre-existing conditions.

Now that the ACA has secured coverage of issuers to the individual private market, high-risk pools are largely outdated. The Mississippi Association remained operational until 2016. But by 2017, the website simply said "these policies are no longer being offered." People with pre-existing conditions can instead get coverage in mississippi's individual market, as medical history is no longer a factor in determining premiums or eligibility for coverage.

In 2018, Mississippi enacted HB1196, which states that "after mchirpa ceases operations", the distribution of all remaining funds held by the association should be approved by the Insurance Commissioner.

Medicare coverage and enrollment in Mississippi

Medicare enrollment in Mississippi was 608,750 as of July 2020. This included about 463,000 people covered by Original Medicare, while the rest enrolled in Medicare plans through the Medicare Advantage program.

Learn more about Medicare enrollment in Mississippi. This page includes information about traditional Medicare (where the federal government pays directly for the services you receive) Medicare Advantage (where you can choose between one of several private health plans in your state and the federal government pays for the plan for the services you receive) and Medicare Part D (coverage of prescription drugs), as well as state rules for Medigap plans.