Family Planning Medicaid in Mississippi is a limited-benefit Medicaid waiver that pays for birth control, STI testing and treatment, reproductive health screenings, and counseling for low-income Mississippi residents ages 13 to 44. It does not provide full Medicaid coverage. Enrollees get family planning services only, capped at four visits per calendar year, and the program currently covers roughly 39,000 people statewide under a federal Section 1115 waiver approved through December 31, 2027.
What the Waiver Covers
The program pays for one annual exam and up to three follow-up visits per calendar year tied to birth control and family planning. Within those visits, covered services include:
- Approved birth control methods, including oral contraceptives, injectables like Depo-Provera, patches, self-inserted products like NuvaRing, IUDs, and implants such as Nexplanon.
- STI and STD screening during family planning visits, plus prescription treatment. Covered drugs include antibiotics such as azithromycin, ceftriaxone, and doxycycline, and antivirals such as acyclovir and valacyclovir. HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis medications Truvada, Descovy, and Apretude are also on the covered drug list.
- Preventive screenings: Pap smears, clinical breast exams, and pelvic exams as part of the annual visit.
- Lab work, including pregnancy tests, blood counts, glucose tests, urinalysis, and testing for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, chlamydia, herpes, and trichomoniasis.
- HPV vaccination.
- Birth control education and counseling, including information about abstinence and natural family planning.
- Voluntary sterilization, including tubal ligation, vasectomy, and tubal sterilization by hysteroscopy, with follow-up care.
Prescriptions can be written by any Medicaid-participating provider and filled at any Medicaid-participating pharmacy.
Sterilization is covered, but it also ends eligibility. The waiver requires that the enrollee be capable of reproducing, so once the sterilization procedure and its follow-up care are complete, enrollment closes. In practice, sterilization works as a final covered benefit.
What the Waiver Does Not Cover
Coverage is strictly limited to family planning and closely related services. The waiver does not pay for:
- Primary care or general medical services.
- Prenatal care or any pregnancy-related services. Becoming pregnant ends eligibility, and a pregnant enrollee transitions out of the waiver and, if she qualifies, into full Mississippi Medicaid, which covers prenatal care, delivery, and twelve months of postpartum care.
- Hospitalization.
- HIV/AIDS or hepatitis treatment. Testing is covered; treatment is not.
- Any service not classified as family planning or family planning related.
Enrollees who need primary care are directed to federally qualified health centers, rural health centers, or other providers outside the waiver.
The Four-Visit Limit and STI Treatment
The annual cap of four visits applies to core family planning services: contraceptive management, counseling, and STI screening. STI and STD treatment and follow-up care fall into a separate “family planning related services” category and do not count against the four-visit limit. A CMS-approved amendment in April 2025 formally reclassified STI/STD screening as a family planning service and STI/STD diagnosis and treatment as a family planning related service, closing what had been a potential coverage gap.
Who Qualifies
To enroll, you must meet all of the following:
- Be 13 to 44 years old.
- Have household income at or below 194% of the federal poverty level. Applicants under 19 are not required to provide household income information.
- Be capable of reproducing and not have had a sterilization procedure.
- Not have Medicare, CHIP, or any other health insurance or third-party medical coverage.
- Live in Mississippi.
Both men and women are eligible. Women losing Medicaid pregnancy coverage at the end of the 60-day postpartum period can move onto the waiver for continued family planning access.
Enrollees receive a yellow Medicaid identification card, which signals limited-benefit coverage (Aid Category 029) and cannot be used for services outside the waiver.
How to Apply
Applications go to the Mississippi Division of Medicaid through any of these channels:
- Online at access.ms.gov.
- By mail to the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, P.O. Box 2222, Jackson, MS 39225.
- By fax to 601-576-4164.
- In person at any of Mississippi’s 30 regional Medicaid offices.
- By phone at 800-421-2408 to request an application or get help.
You’ll need a Social Security number and date of birth, proof of income such as pay stubs or W-2 forms, and information about any existing health insurance.
Where to Get Services
Any Medicaid-participating provider can see waiver enrollees. Mississippi State Department of Health clinics across the state offer family planning services, including counseling, contraceptive methods, annual exams, and STI testing. Appointments can be scheduled at 855-767-0170, and county health departments accept walk-ins.
Title X clinics operated by Converge also provide free or low-cost reproductive health care based on income, and federally qualified health centers serve community residents regardless of insurance status. The HRSA health center finder at findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov lists FQHC locations.
When Coverage Ends
Enrollment has to be recertified every year. Eligibility ends when the enrollee becomes pregnant, turns 45, moves out of state, gains other health insurance, becomes eligible for a different Medicaid category, undergoes sterilization, or asks to close the case.
Federal law makes family planning a mandatory Medicaid benefit and prohibits states from charging enrollees out-of-pocket for family planning care, so there are no copays for covered services under the waiver.