JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Mississippi House Republican leadership unveiled their Medicaid expansion bill on Monday, February 26. This is the latest push to provide coverage for more than 200,000 Mississippians who lack healthcare coverage.

The bill was authored by House Speaker Jason White (R-District 48) and House Medicaid Committee Chairwoman Missy McGee (R-District 102).

The first section of the bill would expand Medicaid for Mississippians who are working at least 20 hours a week. Tacking work requirements onto Medicaid expansion has been included in every expansion bill we’ve seen from Republican and Democratic leadership this year. But where it gets interesting is in the second section of this bill.

The second section mandates that if this work requirement expansion plan is not approved by the federal government before September 30, 2024, Mississippi could either sue the federal government or adopt traditional Medicaid expansion without a work requirement.

An important fact to point out is that the Biden Administration has rejected new requests for work requirement expansion plans in the past, and this work requirement is unlikely to be approved. In that scenario, traditional Medicaid expansion without any work requirement would be adopted in Mississippi pending any legal action.

Traditional Medicaid expansion has been a non-starter in the Republican party. Gov. Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) has been a staunch critic of expansion.