Views from readers: Electric vehicles + quality journalism

Maternal health must be addressed

What is the ripple effect of an infant child losing their mother? Who will care for the child? Will the father be able to balance life and work as a single parent? Are grandparents able to help? Will the child be at risk for out-of-home placement? What is the long-term cost to care for the infant child left behind after a preventable death of the mother?

These are questions our lawmakers must ask themselves when considering the extension of Medicaid coverage to ensure postpartum care from 60 days to 12 months.

Life or death and health or disability in addition to the long-term economic impact of each worst-case scenario are key considerations for the legislature. Maternal health is an issue that Mississippi must address. According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, Mississippi has one of the highest death rates among individuals while pregnant or within one year of pregnancy with the majority of pregnancy-related deaths occurring in populations covered by Medicaid.

Extending Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months following birth is important to addressing health issues that are discovered during pregnancy or resulting from pregnancy and will allow lower income pregnant women to obtain the care needed to be healthy during and after pregnancy.

More than one in three maternal deaths occur following birth, with the risk of mortality from heart disease and stroke being highest between 6 weeks and 12 months after giving birth. Health issues facing new mothers include blood clots, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many other preventable conditions. Costly and deadly outcomes could be prevented with continued access to health care during this critical period in a mother’s life.

How valuable are healthy mothers to Mississippi’s children? Each legislator’s vote to extend Medicaid during the postpartum period from 60 days to 12 months will demonstrate just how important healthy mothers are!

Angel Greer

CEO, Coastal Family Health Center

Great journalist

This is a commendation for Isabelle Taft, a Sun Herald reporter.

I would like to recognize and thank Isabelle for her dedication to finding the truth, but more importantly giving the residents of Biloxi a voice. Because of her year-long research, knocking on doors, digging through public information requests and her extensive investigative work, she clearly exposed the FEMA-funded Infrastructure project in Biloxi, which left a man-made wake of destruction to homeowners across Ward 1 and 2, finishing off what Hurricane Katrina left behind.

Isabelle not only had the ability to gain the trust of homeowners throughout Ward 1 and 2 who were impacted by this project, but she also showed a great deal of empathy and heart for those who suffered with family homes cracked and crumbling, and for those who suffered injuries and health problems.

I know that Isabelle’s series of articles on this project will bring much-needed attention and focus to those who need help. She did the work, now it is up to those who are accountable for such government funding to review her work and take the next steps in the investigation.

Thank you again Isabelle.

Lela Jordan

Biloxi

Lose the fees

It is time to repeal the punitive registration fees on hybrid and electric vehicles.

Mississippi deserves cleaner air and more sustainable transportation options. The punitive tax levied on hybrid and electric vehicle owners is completely disproportionate to the gas tax that gas car drivers pay and it does nothing to the state’s budget.

Electric vehicle owners are being taxed twice both for a fuel they use (state taxes on utility bill) and for a fuel they don’t (gasoline through the registration fee). Divert a portion of the state electricity tax to road maintenance if the argument is EV owners don’t pay their fair share. We need to reduce our carbon footprint to curb climate change.

We should be incentivizing electric vehicles not disincentivizing their adoption.

I urge Governor Tate Reeves, Sen. Philip Moran and Rep. Jay McKnight to address this punitive tax issue.

Paul Lemieux III

Diamondhead