Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.
Rural communities in Mississippi are constantly being under-resourced, underserved and overlooked.
Growing up in a small town in the Delta, I witnessed firsthand the everyday struggles of my neighbors, from food insecurity caused by high medical expenses to limited access to basic health care services.
I grew up in Belzoni, a small town of less than 1,800 that lost its hospital in 2013. Since then, Belzoni residents have been left vulnerable, with no access to 24/7 emergency care and limited preventive health care options.
Kayla Smith Credit: Courtesy photoCurrently Belzoni residents and residents of neighboring towns rely on a single emergency helicopter in Belzoni, and are forced to commute 20 to 35 minutes to the nearest hospital, often during life-threatening emergencies when every minute matters.
This new reality is not just inconvenient; it is extremely dangerous. My community has witnessed community members lose their lives because help could not arrive in time, especially during natural disasters and medical crises.
Without a nearby hospital, many residents began to view health care as a privilege rather than a right, often neglecting their health or abandoning preventive care altogether.
This is not just happening in Belzoni, though. Across Mississippi, nearly half of rural hospitals are at risk of closing, putting thousands more families in danger, according to a 2023 American Hospital Association report.
Additionally, over 200,000 Mississippians fall into the Medicaid coverage gap. They earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance, according to a 2024 KFF report.
Without Medicaid expansion, this issue will only worsen.
Medicaid expansion would not solve every issue Mississippi faces, but it would give rural families the chance to invest in their health without sacrificing their essentials and viewing health care as a burden. It would also bring in necessary federal relief to struggling hospitals and provide coverage to families that are caught in the gap.
Medicaid expansion is not a political matter; it is a humanitarian matter.
It is about ensuring that all Mississippians, no matter their location, have access to reliable and quality health care instead of risking their lives simply because of where they live.
We have to take immediate action for our rural communities because they deserve better and simply cannot afford to wait any longer.
Bio: Kayla Smith, who grew up in Belzoni in the Mississippi Delta, is a public health major in the class of 2027 at the University of Mississippi
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