Medical debt is by far the highest in America's South.

Why?
A key reason = 8 southern states have yet to expand Medicaid.

–>In states that immediately expanded Medicaid, medical debt was slashed nearly in half between 2013 and 2020.https://t.co/2cRBUEBbCZ pic.twitter.com/beifyB5Djr

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) February 21, 2023

Opinion by Paul Waldman: In the cruel politics of Medicaid expansion, a ray of hope https://t.co/bJaSLiMFJe

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 21, 2023

NEW: Even with 54% of Mississippi's rural hospitals in danger of collapse without Medicaid expansion, Gov. Reeves urged Republicans not to “cave under the pressure of Democrats and their allies in the media who are pushing for the expansion of Obamacare."https://t.co/uGa3TGuyd7

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) February 2, 2023

A January 2023 Mississippi Today/Siena College poll found that about 80% of Mississippi voters said the State “should accept federal funds to expand Medicaid,” including 70% of Republicans and 95% of Democrats.https://t.co/uGa3TGuyd7

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) February 2, 2023

Republican death sentence as over half of Mississippi’s rural hospitals are at risk of closing. https://t.co/xx1QUKyU74#medicaid #healthcare #Mississippi @cardon_brian pic.twitter.com/7wpOex5sBU

— TheDemocracyLabs (@TheDemLabs) February 4, 2023

38 of Mississippi’s rural hospitals, more than 1/2 of them, might collapse because Gov Tate Reeves won't allow the state to expand of Medicaid

Hospitals treat all patients needing care, but high volumes of uninsured patients will run hospitals into the ground#Mississippi

— Margaret Wiley 💔🟧 (@manchester18) February 4, 2023

It's not surprising that the same governor who is caught up in the state's biggest corruption scandal is also only thinking of himself while Mississippi families face a hospital closure crisis #MSGov https://t.co/isg08BuhHr pic.twitter.com/brHj3isXOQ

— Sam Newton (@SamNewton) February 3, 2023

Opinion by Paul Waldman: In the cruel politics of Medicaid expansion, a ray of hope https://t.co/bJaSLiMFJe

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 21, 2023

Mississippi is the worst state in America for a pregnant woman. This isn't acceptable. With a rural medicine infrastructure collapsing, a refusal to expand Medicaid (meanwhile being one of the poorest states), & a nurse shortage, it's a recipe for disaster. Syphilis is curable https://t.co/eqmuNiaVmW

— Ameshia Cross (@AmeshiaCross) February 11, 2023

Mississippi is one of 10 states, all with Republican-led legislatures, that have rejected federal funding to expand health insurance for the poor. The missing funding has helped drive a full-blown hospital crisis in the state.https://t.co/czk1p97oqg

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 28, 2023

The refusal to accept Medicaid expansion by Tate & other southern governors is pure cruelty. It’s not a fiscal policy – wouldn’t cost them – it’s a kind of scolding cruelty that has always been a feature of white supremacist ideology. https://t.co/ggO3FxaTlW

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) July 29, 2023

Dispatches from Mississippi, the state with the worst outcomes, the poorest state, and the Blackest state.

Mississippi's largely white GOP leadership yearly refuses over $1 billion to expand Medicaid, provide care for 200k-300k working poor residents, and save rural hospitals. https://t.co/vMgR3D8pO4

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) November 21, 2022

Voters in Mississippi, where hospitals are shutting down due to lack of expansion, would have been able to vote to expand Medicaid last Tuesday.

But two days after the campaign to put it on the ballot began, the MS Supreme Court struck down our entire ballot initiative process. https://t.co/MxAetVLehg

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) November 15, 2022

Half of all the rural hospitals in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas are at risk of closing. Not expanding Medicaid has consequences. https://t.co/0NOdoNIoA0

— David States MD PhD (@statesdj) November 21, 2022

Top economists have forecasted Mississippi would receive $1.61 billion in federal funds for the first year of Medicaid expansion, which would have immense economic growth for the state of Mississippi. But state leaders continue to reject expansion. https://t.co/aPEQHy08BO

— Southern Poverty Law Center (@splcenter) November 19, 2022

The highest infant mortality rates (death under 1 yo).

Above average maternal mortality rates (& the average is already too high).

1 of 12 states that never expanded Medicaid.

Lowest healthcare provider-to-resident ratio.

Highest percentage of Black residents.

Mississippi.

— uché blackstock, md (@uche_blackstock) June 25, 2022

“The only hospital we’ve got is on its deathbed.”

A rural hospital in the Mississippi Delta is struggling to keep its doors open as cash reserves plummet and patient traffic slows. https://t.co/aPomZwTwRk

— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 20, 2022

Low-income Missouri residents finally gain Medicaid coverage https://t.co/bi8MjhBoBX

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 5, 2021

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson nixes voter-approved Medicaid expansion plan https://t.co/Neq7Vizaww

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 14, 2021

"Rural Missouri said no,” said GOP Rep. Sara Walsh. Making the quiet part loud: R voters r the 'real Americans" whose opinions deserve to drive policy even if a minority. Urban/diverse are more like an alien force trying to 'cancel' real US. Same impulse behind suppression bills https://t.co/Tn0I5h4rZC

— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) March 25, 2021

This is an absurd violation of the constitution and Missouri voters’ will. https://t.co/M1br5j4lvJ

— Tony Messenger (@tonymess) March 25, 2021

Missouri House Budget Committee just voted not to fund Medicaid in Missouri. Voters chose to amend the Mo constitution to protect Medicaid from exactly this. Withholding Mo Medicaid funding is unconstitutional. The Missouri GOP doesn’t make laws, they make lawsuits.

— Genevieve Williams (@RGenevieve) March 25, 2021

With a member or two absent, every single Republican member of the Missouri House Budget Committee just chose to ignore our state Constitution (and Missouri voters) and vote against funding Medicaid expansion. Rejecting billions in state dollars and denying healthcare to 200,000.

— Rep. Peter Merideth (@PeterforMO) March 25, 2021

Pretty sure Kansas City and St. Louis are still part of Missouri. https://t.co/CzBmoEOXKm

— Bryan Lowry (@BryanLowry3) March 25, 2021

The big Republican argument against Medicaid Expansion is that able-bodied Missourians for some reason are less deserving of health care.

Lots of uninsured but employed folks in Missouri would finally have access to health care with Medicaid Expansion.

4/

— Elad Gross 🇺🇸 (@BigElad) March 25, 2021

the ticking time bomb of american politics, imo, is the fact that the electoral college offers a pretty clear path to overturning a presidential election https://t.co/Y06AGcyUpm

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) June 14, 2021