Mississippi Senate Insurance Committee hears on driving and healthcare

“They’re shopping on the phone, they’re face timing on the phone, they’re streaming movies on the phone,” AAA Public Affairs Specialist Don Redmond told the Mississippi Senate Insurance Committee this week.

The committee spent two days hearing from a diverse coalition—optometrists, pharmacists, EMS providers, and advocates for 1099 workers—all arguing that current regulations are either outdated, inconsistently enforced, or actively harming the provider-patient relationship.

Mississippi Drivers Trail National Safety Averages

The data on distracted driving in Mississippi isn’t just concerning; it’s an outlier. According to Cambridge Mobile Telematics, Mississippi drivers spend two minutes and eight seconds per hour moving their phones—a figure 31% higher than the national average. This “phone motion” includes picking up or rotating a device to check a notification or answer a call, even if the screen isn’t touched.

The human cost of this habit is staggering. Redmond estimated that distracted driving contributes to 60% of the state’s traffic fatalities. He suggested that if Mississippi could simply bring its phone-handling statistics in line with the national average, the state could prevent roughly 15 vehicle collision-related deaths.

Redmond also noted that secondary crashes kill an average of two people per month on Mississippi roads.

The Battle Over Medical Reimbursements

Beyond the highways, the committee heard a recurring theme of “unpaid labor” from healthcare providers. Pharmacists are currently providing services without insurance compensation that other medical professionals can bill.

The friction extends to vision care, where Reed described vision plans as the “Groupon of vision care.” Reed argued that these plans often steer patients away from their doctors and toward preferred retail outlets.

“Literally they are stealing patients out of our examination chairs, and I can show proof of that,” Reed told the committee.

The Administrative Burden of Denied Claims

For many clinics, the struggle isn’t just about what is covered, but about the effort required to get paid for services already rendered. Warren Herring, President and CEO of TrustCare Health, revealed a troubling trend in claim denials. Since 2022, there has been a 30% increase in the number of physicians seeing a denial rate of 10% or more.

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The numbers from 2025 highlight the scale of the problem: commercial insurers initially denied about 21% of in-patient and 11% of out-patient claims. While only about 3% of those claims ultimately went unpaid, the process of fighting for that money is an administrative nightmare. Reed estimated it costs his office between $57 and $80 per appeal submission.

This creates a perverse incentive where insurers hold onto earned revenue for weeks or months. Herring called for a “pay first, audit later” system, suggesting that providers should be able to collect interest or penalties on wrongfully denied payments to deter insurers from using the appeals process as a way to delay payment.

Closing the Benefit Gap for 1099 Workers

Finally, the committee addressed a massive blind spot in the state’s economic safety net: the 270,000 self-employed workers who contribute $12.5 billion to Mississippi’s economy. From hair stylists to real estate agents, these 1099 workers are 11% less likely to carry health insurance than traditional employees.

Austen Bannan, Employment Fellow at Americans for Prosperity, and Starla Brown, State Director of AFP, proposed “portable benefit plans.” The goal is to modernize outdated laws that currently make it legally risky for companies to provide benefits to non-employees. By creating a legal framework for portable benefits, the state could allow freelance workers to carry their health insurance and paid leave from one contract to the next, regardless of who is paying their current invoice.

Mississippi Senate committee passes their version of Medicaid expansion

As the 2027 session approaches, the committee is tasked with balancing these requests against the concerns of insurance giants and the reality of state budgets. The common thread across every testimony was a desire for transparency—whether it’s a driver’s eyes on the road or a pharmacist’s bill in an insurer’s inbox.

“It’s a very dangerous place to be on the side of the road,” Redmond noted, a sentiment that seemed to echo the precarious position of many of the providers and workers who spoke this week.