Jackson Free Press

The Mississippi Department of Insurance announced today that Ambetter from Magnolia Health has been cleared to offer individual health insurance plans through the federal health marketplace. Magnolia serves 50 counties in the state currently, but will extend its coverage to all 82 counties beginning in January 1, 2017.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney announced the news today in a press release.

"Commissioner Chaney says there will be more consumer options and price competition for counties in the Delta, as well as in Coastal counties. The decision by Chaney concerning the adequacy of AmBetter's provider network will also give consumers more choices for health care providers," the press release states. "Providers are the doctors, clinics and hospitals consumers choose to use when seeking care under a health plan."

Read about the current Obamacare coverage in Mississippi here.

The attorney general's office recovered $33.95 million and delivered that money to the state Treasury on Monday. In a press release, Attorney General Jim Hood encouraged the Mississippi Legislature to use the money to offset budget shortfalls for vital state services.

“Hopefully, this will undo some of the damage inflicted to agency budgets because of state leaders’ untimely devotion to tax breaks for big businesses,” Hood said in the release. “Those misguided corporate tax cuts along with the problems associated with Senate Bill 2362 and the Legislature’s mathematical error have led to a reduction of beds at the State Hospital, layoffs at the Department of Revenue and the Forestry Commission, and closure of National Guard armories. Lawmakers will fall far short of collecting the $188 million that they anticipated collecting in the special funds sweep, and I’m concerned that there are more significant budget cuts ahead.”

The majority of the $33,951,305 is from a judgment against pharmaceutical manufacturer Sandoz Inc., which defrauded the state by manipulating the prices it charged for its drugs to the state Medicaid program.

Community leaders will hold a press conference at the Mississippi State Capitol next week to call on Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant to issue an apology to Mississippians during “Racial Reconciliation Month”.

They are asking Gov. Bryant to apologize for his refusal to back the removal of the Confederate symbol from the Mississippi flag, and for his declaration of the month of April as "Confederate Heritage Month," a press release says.

Duvalier Malone, a Mississippi native, who was a part of the Take It Down America movement, which culminated in a rally in Washington, DC to bring awareness to the Mississippi state flag, is helping to organize the press conference next Thursday, October 13 at the Capitol at 11 a.m.

In order for any reconciliation to take place, the Governor and the state of Mississippi must first join the rest of America in the denunciation of the Confederate emblem, and all that it stands for, Malone said in a press release. Malone has spoken on how hate crimes link the Confederate symbol to the swastika, the emblem of Nazi Germany.

“It's time for us to recognize that although the Confederate symbol and the Nazi symbol originate from different countries," he said in a press release. "They are equals in terms of hate, intolerance and bigotry.”