As Miss. Rejects Medicaid Expansion, a Family Vows to Leave

New America Media, News Feature, Posted: Oct 23, 2013

Chris Stark is a fan of the Affordable Care Act. And though he was successful at purchasing an insurance policy through the healthcare.gov website, which enabled him and his wife Meredith to bring an end to three years of being uninsured, Chris says the couple is weighing the possibility of leaving Mississippi because of its inaction on Medicaid expansion.

Both in their late 20s, the Starks are nursing students at Itawamba Community College, a short drive from their home near Tupelo. For them, the decision of Mississippi’s governor and legislature to not raise the state’s income ceiling to allow more low-income residents to qualify for Medicaid is unfair and unwise.

Looking to 2016, when they both will have graduated, Chris says he is serious about pulling up roots if the state’s Medicaid guidelines remain unchanged.