Senate committee advances bill to create 'independence account' to protect Medicaid eligibility

A Mississippi Senate committee reported a bill that would establish an "independence account" allowing certain Medicaid recipients to place funds into an account for items not covered by Medicaid without losing eligibility, sponsors said.

The bill, introduced by Senator Bridal, is modeled after legislation in Arkansas. "It establishes an independence account, and it provides that money you get, can be paid into this account to use basically for things which aren't covered by Medicaid without your losing Medicaid eligibility," Bridal said. He told committee members the proposal targets a narrow group of people and that "Medicaid has looked at it and said, among other things, they felt it would only apply to a few people."

Committee members did not pose substantive questions during the presentation. A motion for "title sufficient, do pass" was made and the committee voiced its approval; the bill was reported out of committee. The transcript does not record a roll-call tally or the name of the motion-maker.

The proposal aims to address cases in which small amounts of income from short-term employment can cause a rapid loss of Medicaid eligibility. The bill sponsor described the measure as a narrowly tailored fix rather than a broad eligibility expansion.

The committee moved the bill forward to the next step; no fiscal impact statement was included in the committee discussion for this item in the transcript.