Mississippi Health Insurance

How healthy is living in Mississippi?

Mississippi has been hovering near the bottom of America's Health Rankings for the past few years, and this year, it fell to the very bottom. climbed out of last place in the United Health Foundation's annual ranking of the healthiest states. The state's rating was hurt by the fact that it ranked among the bottom 10 states in 14 categories and was dead last in four of those categories.

The good news:

• Mississippi's best ranking again this year was in the category measuring the prevalence of binge drinking. The state was ranked #4, with 11.1 percent of the state's population reporting having drunken excessively in a designated 30-day period.
• The state saw notable improvement in two categories: the percentage of children under age 18 in poverty has decreasedrom 32.8 percent to 23.5 percent and the incidence of infectious disease has declined from 26.9 to 17.2 cases per 100,000 population.

The bad news:

• The state was ranked dead last in four measurements: the prevalence of obesity (33.3 percent of the population), premature death, deaths due to cardiovascular disease and infant mortality rate.
• Overall, the state was ranked among the bottom five states in 10 of 22 categories.

The state's best and worst category rankings:

• Prevalence of binge drinking – #5
• Lack of health insurance – #43
• Prevalence of smoking – #44
• Poor physical health days – #44
• Children in poverty – #6
• High school graduation – #46
• Poor mental health days – #47
• Cancer deaths – #47
• Occupational fatalities – #48
• Primary care physicians – #48
• Preventable hospitalizations – #48
• Infant mortality – #50
• Cardiovascular deaths – #50
• Premature death – #50
• Prevalence of obesity – #50

See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Mississippi.

Does Mississippi have a risk pool for the uninsurable?

Mississippi Comprehensive Health Insurance Risk Pool
Toll-free 1-888-820-9400

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Mississippi will offer health coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Mississippi's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

Cover The Uninsured's guide on finding health insurance in Mississippi

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Mississippi and all other states.
• Its guide on how to find health insurance in Mississippi.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown University's Guide to Health Insurance in Mississippi

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Mississippi.

USNews health insurance rankings for Mississippi

US News does an annual ranking of what it considers the best health insurance plans in each state. Visit its reports on various health insurance or medical insurance plans being offered in Mississippi.

Official State Goverment Sites with 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.