Mississippi Medicaid Expansion: Do I Qualify for Medicaid Under the ACA?

 

Not all states have expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Learn where Mississippi stands.

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The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) expanded Medicaid eligibility to include more people who couldn’t otherwise obtain health insurance. As written, the ACA would extend Medicaid to all adults with incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level. (For a single person in Mississippi in 2023, that’s $20,120. For a family of four, it’s $41,400.)

However, the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that it was up to individual states to decide whether to expand Medicaid. As of December 2023, only 10 states have not expanded their programs. 

Mississippi Has Not Expanded Medicaid

Medicaid expansion was slated to be on the ballot in Mississippi in 2021, but on May 19, the Mississippi Supreme Court declared the state's entire ballot initiative process defunct because of issues with language in the state constitution. And it's unlikely that the state will expand Medicaid through legislation. Unfortunately, this means that lower-income Mississippi residents have fewer options for health coverage than people in states where Medicaid is more inclusive.

The Medicaid Coverage Gap

The Affordable Care Act assumed that Medicaid would be expanded to cover all Americans with incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level. And it created health plan subsidies for people with incomes between 100% - 400% of the poverty level.

That means Mississippi residents with incomes below the poverty level may fall into a coverage gap where they can get neither Medicaid nor ACA subsidies.

Find Out What Health Plans and Programs You Qualify For

To learn whether you're eligible for Medicaid in Mississippi, contact the Mississippi Medicaid office.

You can also find out whether you qualify when you apply for health insurance at Healthcare.gov. If you don’t meet Mississippi’s Medicaid requirements, Healthcare.gov will show you the private health insurance plans available to you. You may still be eligible for significant cost-saving subsidies based on your income and family size.

For more information, see Ways to Save Money on Obamacare in Mississippi.


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Jurisdictional relevance: ST

There are versions of this article for each State.



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