Late night Monday

Following negotiations that lasted until nearly midnight, lawmakers couldn’t agree on a controversial Medicaid bill and it died.

Today legislators will figure out where to go from here. The bill, which was to fund Medicaid’s budget, and some more controversial provisions, died under a midnight deadline. Lawmakers could suspend the rules to allow another bill to be entered.

“There’s always tomorrow,” House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, said just after the announcement the bill would die, which came about eight minutes before midnight.

McCoy expressed some optimism Tuesday morning that an agreement could be reached on the controversial provision to continue requiring beneficiaries to recertify for the program in person, which was the point of contention Monday.

Gov. Haley Barbour and other Republicans say the face-to-face requirement cuts down fraud cases. But Democrats, who oppose the rule, said often children are removed from the Medicaid rolls when their parents fail to take them to the office to be recertified.

“Why penalize the children?” asked Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg.

Democrats also said many counties also don’t have Medicaid offices with predictable hours and some have to drive to other counties to reenroll.

Barbour, in a statement released earlier this year, said the face-to-face eligibility determinations help ensure those who are receiving benefits are eligible, the paperwork is accurate and that all questions are answered.

The governor also said the requirements let workers see children are being taken care of.

“The face-to-face meetings that involve coverage of children allow Medicaid staff to assess whether a child appears to be well and healthy, and to explain to the parent any number of available benefits,” Barbour wrote.

The bill quickly lost steam Monday evening.

Sen. Billy Hewes, R-Gulfport, made a successful motion to recommit the bill to conference early Monday evening, which sent legislators back into discussions, and after press time Monday night, Holland announced there was still no agreement.

“It’s pretty grave,” Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, chairman of public health, told the House of Representatives not long after 10 p.m.

Legislators were hoping to reach an accord before midnight Tuesday, which would give them the five days before the end of the session that is required to pass money bills. But legislature could vote to extend the session-- if only on paper-- to comply with the rule.

Some 600,000 Mississippians, mostly of low income, depend on Medicaid to pay for medical services.

The appropriations bill legislators were haggling over into the night doesn’t address the nearly $100 million Medicaid deficit for this fiscal year, nor does it come up with a solution for the much larger deficits expected in years to come. A long-term solution to the reoccurring deficits could come in a special legislative session this year.

On Monday, legislators did pass the bulk of the 2009 budget, but a few items remain to be tackled before the end of the session, which is scheduled to conclude on Saturday.