Mississippi’s health status

Good news for Mississippi: according to America’s Health Rankings, the state is no longer the least healthy state in the US. The not-so-good news: it’s the second worst state in the nation. Nevertheless, small improvement can be seen in Mississippi this year, when compared to last. In the past year, the prevalence of smoking went down from 25.1 to 23.9% of the population, and it seems like it will continue to go down. The incidence of infectious disease declined also this year as compared to 2007, from 22.0 to 18.2 cases per 100,000 population. Since 1990, the infant mortality rate decreased from 13.0 to 10.2 deaths per 1,000 live births.

There are some dubious honors for this state: Mississippi has the worst percentages in the nation when it comes to cardiovascular-related deaths (387 per 100,000 population, children in poverty (with 32.8% of the population 18 and under living in poverty), and prevalence of obesity. 32.6 of the residents of Mississippi are obese in 2008, as compared to the 31.4% of 2007. Primary care physicians and preventable hospitalizations are also two of the worst ratings in the country, with only 81.5 primary care physicians per 100,000 population and 109 preventable hospitalizations per 1,000 Medicare enrollees. The premature death rate has also increased in 2008.

Some of the state’s strengths include a low prevalence of binge drinking at 10.3 percent of the population and a low violent crime rate at 291 offenses per 100,000 population. Geographic disparity and cancer-related deaths have also lowered slightly, but are still very high. Despite the weak state of the health care system in Mississippi, public health funding is low, but not bad, at $61 per person. Nonetheless, the percentage of the population that lacks Health Insurance in the state is the fifth worst in the country, with almost 20% of the population with no Health coverage.

Mississippi needs to evaluate and change its action plan when it comes to health. As the second worst state in the country, healthy speaking, the situation is not good. With a little push, the state could improve the percentage of residents with health insurance, and to improve the quality and accessibility of the service.

Mississippi health insurance information

In Mississippi, 80.2% of the citizens have Health Insurance. This is a very low percentage of the population, caused a low government funding, and very inadequate and inaccessible service, since this means that only about 19.8% of the population in Mississippi has no Health Insurance. This is almost 1 out of every five residents in the state. The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees is also very low, with 55.3% percent of employers offering health Insurance plans, and this percentage has been going down since 2003. About 79.2% of workers take the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers.

The low public health funding in Mississippi also causes to have a low rate of primary care physicians for the population, with only 81.5 physicians per 100,000 population. Mississippi’s health care system, although trying hard to remain accessible to its citizens, has issues to work for, such as better quality and efficiency. The percentage of the Mississippi population that could get medical care when needed is only 81%. The patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL stands at 25%.

If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:

Best health plans in Mississippi

The prestigious US News ranks yearly the best Health Plans in the country, polling and evaluating consumer assessment, prevention, and treatment offered by all plans. They gather information and rank the results, nation-wide and state-wide, showing on their results the best plans available for Mississippi as well. The Rankings reflect results of consumer surveys and success in preventing and treating illness compared with average health plan.

Not only they rank Commercial Plans, they also rank Medicare or Medicaid plans, covering and evaluating as many plans as possible. If you want to browse their list of best-of, please go to the US News Health Plans Search site.

Get involved

If you are concerned about Mississippi’s health care issues and want to speak out, your safest bet is to contact your federal official, either via phone or fax. Postal Mail is not recommended, since it takes too long, and e-mail might not be seen. Also, make sure you communicate with the right Member of the Senate and/or Congress.

If you want more guidance and tips on how to contact and communicate with your representatives, there are various sites on the internet that can help on how to contact your elected officials.

Contact the White House PHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) FAX: 1 202-456-2461 E-MAIL:comments@whitehouse.gov State officials: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour P.O. Box 139 Jackson, MS 39205 PHONE: 601-359-3150 FAX: 601-359-3741 Senator Thad Cochran PHONE: 202-224-5054 (DC office) FAX: not available (DC office) Web Form: Contact Form Senator Roger Wicker PHONE: 202-224-6253 (DC office) FAX: 202-228-0378 (DC office) Web Form: Contact Form Official Mississippi health insurance information Mississippi Insurance Department - consumer information page links of interest to state health care consumers. Mississippi Division of Medicaid Helping the state’s lowest income individuals and families. MO CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Plan) Designed to provide health care insurance for children in families without health insurance or with inadequate health insurance. It does not replace Medicaid; in fact, children on Medicaid are precluded from CHIP participation.		Recent Mississippi health insurance news Health Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of Mississippi and their welfare. Here are some of the latest news and updates on the current issues and news related to Health and Health Insurance for Mississippi: