Special Session To Resolve Mississippi Medicaid Budget Shortfall Likely to Be Delayed Until September

Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove (D) on April 22 reached an agreement "in principle" with the state's legislative leadership to delay until September any action on resolving an anticipated shortfall in the Medicaid budget cycle beginning July 1, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports (Branson, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 4/24). On April 9, Musgrove vetoed a bill that would have allocated $349 million for the program, saying the amount was too little, but the state Legislature overrode the veto on April 12. Medicaid officials have said the program needs a total of $537 million in state funds (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/22). Legislative leaders and Musgrove met earlier this week to "resolve" the funding disagreement and avoid calling lawmakers into a special legislative session. The regular session ended April 12. While a deal on the funding situation has not been finalized, the governor and lawmakers have established the parameters of an agreement that in part would require the state Division of Medicaid to implement cost-containment measures, which are not detailed by the Commercial Appeal. In addition, the agreement calls for legislative leaders to create an oversight committee that would "monitor and reexamine" the Medicaid program. Lawmakers also agreed that if Medicaid does run out of money during the first quarter of the next fiscal year, they will remove language in the budget bill that requires the program to balance on a quarterly basis. The tentative agreement means that the governor can put off for at least a few months calling a special session to deal with the financial problem. State Rep. Steve Holland (D) said, "If we see near the 1st or 15th of September [that] we're still in financial trouble, we've agreed in spirit to get together and do what needs to be done" (Memphis Commercial Appeal, 4/24).