The following is an analysis of how far the State of Mississippi has allowed its Medicaid program to fall. All statistics are from Public Citizen and are reflected in the following categories: (note: all italics are copied from the Public Citizen web site)

Elgibility - The state ranks 49th in eligibility. This reflects its restriction of services to those at the lowest mandated poverty level in most cases, leaving out many who cannot afford private health insurance, and its exclusion of those who are poor due to extreme health care costs, the medically needy. This poor showing in eligibility in Mississippi means that large numbers of people are excluded from Medicaid just because of where they happen to live, and they would be covered in a state with more lenient eligibility criteria.

Scope of Services - The score for scope of services is the lowest in the nation and represents only 33.4 percent of the total value. This reflects not only the exclusion of some services (e.g., psychologist services, dentures, hearing aids, prosthetic and orthotic devices, among others) but also the fact that the state has limitations in terms of amount, type, duration, and frequency of services, all of which cost points in the final score. The state scores particularly poorly in the subcategories of devices and equipment and rehabilitation. This poor showing in scope of services means that, even if people qualify for the program, they may not have access to many services provided to Medicaid recipients in states with a broader benefits package.

Quality of Care - In terms of quality of care, it ranks 25th. This reflects a better-than-average performance in staffing and monitoring nursing care, indicators in which many other state programs are quite deficient.

Provider Reimbursement - In the reimbursement category, Mississippi is tied with four other states in the 30th rank. Despite its obvious deficiencies in covering a population in need, Mississippi does a creditable job in paying its providers in comparison with both national standards and their Medicare counterparts. Nevertheless, it loses points in this category because it provides low provider payments for gynecological services and spends less than average on care per enrollee.

Mississippi ranks 50th in the U.S. for providing Medicaid services to its citizens. Though Quality of Care and Provider Reimbursement statistics are in the middle, the two biggest factors and most important are how many people Mississippi excludes (Elgibility) from Medicaid and how many services and needed prosthetic devices are excluded (Scope of Services).

You can go to an interactive summary of the report here. This site will not only let you view how Mississippi ranks in all of the rated areas, but you can also see how the other states ranked.