Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

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Mississippi program

Free health insurance for your child (Mississippi Medicaid)

Mississippi’s free health plan for children under 19. Your child can have it alongside work insurance.

What it is

Mississippi’s free health plan for children under 19. Your child can have it alongside work insurance.

Mississippi checks your child’s age and current monthly household income. A change in pay can change the answer. The state decides who belongs in your child’s household and which income counts.

Eligibility rules
  • Your child must live in Mississippi and be under 19.
  • The March 1, 2026 base income lines are 194% of poverty under age 1, 143% at ages 1–5, and 133% at ages 6–18. A five-percentage-point allowance applies if needed.
  • For four people the line is $3,796 a month for a child aged 6 to 18, $3,933 for ages 1 to 5, and $5,335 for a baby under 1. The state adds a small allowance before it decides, which is already in these figures.
  • For three people, the ages 6–18 base line is $3,028 monthly. Household rules use tax relationships, not simply everyone at the address.
  • A yearly income divided by 12 is only an estimate. The state checks current monthly income.
How this works with work insurance
  • Your work plan is billed first. Medicaid can cover eligible care after that plan.
  • There is no Medicaid premium for this child coverage.
What to check together
  • Ask the hospital benefit coordinator how both plans handle your child’s treatment, pharmacy and bills.
  • Your work plan pays first for care Medicaid covers. A clinic that accepts Medicaid generally cannot bill you the work plan’s deductible, coinsurance or copay, even when Medicaid pays nothing extra. Required approvals still matter. Care Medicaid does not cover, or a clinic unable to bill Medicaid, can leave a bill.
What you get
  • No premium or copays for covered hospital care, chemotherapy, medicines and clinic visits.
  • Help getting to covered appointments.
  • Nursing at home when your child’s care needs meet the separate rules.
  • Eligible earlier medical bills can also be covered.
What this includes
  • Medicaid pays after your work plan for care it covers.
  • For a Medicaid-covered, properly authorized service from an enrolled provider, the provider generally cannot bill you the private-plan deductible, coinsurance or copay. That remains true when private insurance pays at least Medicaid’s allowed amount and Medicaid pays $0 extra. The two insurers may pay less than the private-plan bill shows; the remaining protected amount is not yours to pay.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the hospital benefit coordinator to work through the ACCESS Mississippi application with you.
  2. Have current pay records, birth dates, insurance cards and earlier bills ready.
  3. Ask which Medicaid plans include your child’s hospital, oncology team and pharmacy.

Mississippi Division of Medicaid, 800-421-2408. Ask which office handles your child’s treatment approvals and whether a health plan runs the coverage. · Official page ↗

What happens next
  • The usual decision standard is 45 days, or 90 days when disability must be decided. A participating hospital can screen for temporary presumptive Medicaid: without a full application it ends at the end of the following month; a full application filed by then can keep temporary coverage in place through the eligibility decision.
  • Once approved, your child keeps Medicaid for 12 months even if your income rises, unless the child turns 19 or you move out of Mississippi.
  • For applications filed through December 31, 2026, Medicaid can cover eligible care in the three months before the application month. For applications filed on or after January 1, 2027, federal law reduces this to two months for children. Eligibility must be met in each earlier month.
Good to know

Work insurance is billed first. Keeping both means checking that the clinic can bill both plans.

Other details
  • CHIP and Katie Beckett use different rules if ordinary child Medicaid does not fit.
  • Keeping work insurance preserves its access to care but leaves the premium and two plans to manage. A change in coverage needs a check of the exact cancer team, medicines and planned treatment.
  • If the health plan says no to something, you have 60 days to appeal to the plan and then 120 days to ask the state for a hearing. To keep a service running while you appeal, ask within 10 days of the notice. The social worker can help with both.
  • Some children use fee-for-service Medicaid rather than a coordinated-care plan. The eligibility category and other insurance affect enrollment and the office handling treatment approvals.

Federal background: Medicaid and Medicaid as second insurance.

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“What are the benefits and drawbacks of adding Medicaid to our child’s coverage, and if it would help, could you help us apply?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand whether Medicaid could reduce treatment bills and how two plans would work.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Apply at access.ms.gov, report this month's income and any insurance, and name the months that already have bills.

Your social worker

The oncology social worker or benefit coordinator helps you file, asks about temporary Medicaid, and chases the 45-day decision.

The care team

Nothing for ordinary child Medicaid. Medical records are needed only for the Katie Beckett route.

Who decides
The Mississippi Division of Medicaid checks the income. The coordinated-care plan you pick then runs the coverage.
Ask your social worker
“Can you help me file at access.ms.gov today, and ask whether the hospital can open temporary Medicaid while we wait? Can we list the bills from the three months before?”

How to apply

First step: The hospital benefit coordinator can help you discuss whether Medicaid would help and, if you choose to pursue it, how to complete the ACCESS Mississippi application. The Division of Medicaid can be reached at 800-421-2408.

  1. The hospital benefit coordinator can help you discuss whether Medicaid would help and, if you choose to pursue it, how to complete the ACCESS Mississippi application. The Division of Medicaid can be reached at 800-421-2408.
  2. List every month with bills so the three-month look-back covers the admission.
  3. Ask the hospital benefit coordinator whether it can open temporary Medicaid today.
  4. Pick a plan the hospital and the oncology group take: the 2026 network list has Molina, Magnolia Health and TrueCare.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Apply at access.ms.gov, or call 800-421-2408. Ask the hospital's benefit coordinator whether it can open temporary Medicaid for your child while the state decides.

What to gather

  • Your child's birth certificate or ID and Social Security number
  • A Mississippi address
  • This month's income for each parent in the tax household
  • Insurance cards, if you have them
  • Hospital bills from the three months before you apply

How long: The manual gives the state 45 days. In May 2026 three in five Mississippi decisions came inside a week. Coverage then reaches back up to three months before the month you applied.

What a yes looks like

A notice with the coverage start date and a choice of health plan. Check that the hospital and the oncology group take that plan before choosing. Then 12 months are locked in.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Read which test the no was on. If it was income, ask for CHIP and for Katie Beckett by name, and appeal by the date on the notice.

Watch out

  • Mississippi counts the tax household and this month's income, not last year's return.
  • Your child can keep private insurance and have Medicaid too. Do not cancel the work plan to apply.
  • If the state says the income is too high, ask in the same breath for CHIP and for Katie Beckett by name.

Dates that change this

2026-03-01: The income table is the state's 2026 table, effective March 1, 2026. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 tables all start on March 1, but no rule fixing that date was published and the 2027 table is not out.

2027-01-01: Bills from up to three months before the application month can be covered now; that becomes two months for applications made on or after January 1, 2027. No Mississippi notice about the change was found.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Full Mississippi Medicaid with no premium and no copays. For four people the lines are $5,335 under 1, $3,933 at ages 1 to 5 and $3,658 at ages 6 to 18, with a printed allowance column five points higher.

  • $5,335/month — Child under 1, household of 4, printed base line
  • $3,933/month — Child aged 1 to 5, household of 4, printed base line
  • $3,658/month — Child aged 6 to 18, household of 4, printed base line
  • $3,796/month — Child aged 6 to 18, household of 4, printed allowance column
  • $3,028/month — Child aged 6 to 18, household of 3, printed base line
  • $45 — Decision standard for an income-based application
  • $12 — Continuous coverage once approved

Covers: Hospital and clinic care · Chemotherapy and prescriptions · Anything medically necessary for a child under 21, under the rule that Medicaid must correct or improve the condition · Private-duty nursing and personal care at home when approved · Rides to appointments, with overnight meals and lodging · Dental and vision

Legal protection: Medicaid pays after a private plan rather than replacing it · No deductibles, coinsurance or copays

What it costs the family: No premium. No deductibles, coinsurance or copays.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
under 19
Age max exclusive
19
Income
MAGI budget group. Base lines 194 percent under 1, 143 percent ages 1 to 5, 133 percent ages 6 to 18, with a printed 5 percent poverty-level allowance column applied if it is needed.
Insurance status condition
none: Mississippi Medicaid is the payer after other coverage (Title 23 Part 306, Rule 1.7A)
Residency
Mississippi
Continuous eligibility
12 full months
Retroactive months
3 now; 2 for applications made on or after 2027-01-01
Processing standard
45 days (Chapter 101, section 101.07.04)

Decisions this site cannot make: Division of Medicaid income decision on the tax household · Hospital presumptive eligibility, where the hospital takes part

Expect friction on: Choosing a coordinated-care plan the oncology team takes

The trap: Mississippi counts the tax household and this month's income, not last year's return and not everyone under the roof. The state prints two dollar columns and applies the higher one when it makes the difference, so an income between the two still gets a look. Do not cancel private insurance to apply.

Where I read this

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