Biden, Pelosi’s “Build Back Better” social spending bill would expand Medicaid in Mississippi

Insurance Commissioner Chaney says Mississippi would not be required to provide any additional match if the bill passes as it is now.

Tucked within the $2 trillion “social safety net and climate change” bill promoted by President Joe Biden in his “Build Back Better” spending agenda that passed the U.S. House Friday morning was a provision that would expand Medicaid in Mississippi through the use of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Federal Marketplace.

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says he has been in contact with the state division of Medicaid and will work with the Director and the Federal Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services to comply with the proposed law should it become law.

“While I do not agree with many provisions of the act, I will work within the parameters of the new law,” Commissioner Chaney said in a release.

The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate as it makes its way through the reconciliation process Democrats are using to push the measure through to avoid the 60-vote threshold. Changes are likely to be made in the Senate before it hits the floor for a vote.  If changes are made, the bill would then need to pass the House of Representatives again before being sent to the President for his signature.

If it passes, Commissioner Chaney says the new law would affect over 750,000 individuals in Mississippi.

Chaney told Y’all Politics on Friday that the bill, as it stands now, would not require any additional match by the state to implement the Medicaid expansion.