JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Mississippi House and Senate Medicaid expansion negotiators are still under immense pressure to get a deal done after they held their first public meeting on Tuesday, April 23.

No movement was made during the conference negotiations on Tuesday. Conferees did not meet on Wednesday.

One Mississippian, Kathleen O’Beirne, felt compelled to come to the Mississippi State Capitol on Wednesday after watching the negotiations.

O’Beirne, her husband and her two children are covered through their employer sponsored health insurance plans. She hoped to speak with Senate negotiators after they provided no compromise to their expansion position as the House did.

“I’m here because I’m convinced that the House plan is the one that is the best for Mississippians. Maybe we have a deductible we have to meet, and maybe we have premiums that we have to pay. But we’re able to do that. And I realize how fortunate we are because of that. Moms who are working as cashier hours or fast food workers, or they’re working in the mom and pop gas station, they don’t have health care. They don’t love their children any less than I do. Mississippi has the ability to provide coverage for those families, and our senators and our leadership in the state are refusing to do so. That’s a problem. It doesn’t make financial sense, and it’s morally wrong,” said O’Beirne.

The compromise offered by the House would be a hybrid Medicaid expansion plan. It would still cover those up to 138% of the federal poverty level but would keep more individuals on the federal insurance exchange.