JACKSON, Miss. ( WJTV ) – Roughly 200,000 working Mississippians could have the option of healthcare if Mississippi fully expanded Medicaid.

Ken Allen is one of them. He currently works as a custodian at Southside Baptist Church in Jackson.

“Myself or my wife any time that we’ve been, you know, in a situation where both of us were working or just one of us was working, we’ve, we’ve never made over $2,000 a month take home. I’ve had existing dental issues since I was in my early 20s, and I’m 43 this year, and, you know, it just gets worse and worse as time goes by, and there’s not really a lot of options for me out there without, without insurance,” he said.

Allen’s last job offered insurance, but the premiums proved to be too expensive for him to afford. He left his last job over safety concerns and has ben working at the church since November.

Since then, Allen, his wife, who suffers from diabetes, and his two teenage children are left with no health insurance. They’ve applied for Medicaid four times just this year and have not yet been accepted.

“Either we make too much, or like I said they want some document from 10 years ago showing that you don’t work somewhere that you used to work,” he said.

Allen works four days a week at the church and spends the rest of his week cutting lawns and doing other home repairs around Jackson, often without a steady income.

“Dealing with the burden, it’s very frustrating, you know, when you see your wife’s ankles are swollen because she’s retaining water, and you know, it has to do with her diabetes and different things like that. Or your child has 101 fever, and you know that there’s really nothing that you can do other than give them a little bit of over-the-counter medicine. Personally, I don’t want any government assistance. I feel like I’ve got two good arms and a strong back, so I want to go out and make for my own, and I want my children to see me do that,” he said.

With Medicaid expansion talks headed to conference, Allen and thousands of other Mississippians are hoping lawmakers can agree on a measure that will include those making up to 138% of the federal poverty level. That’s a yearly income of $31,200 for a family of four, like Allen’s.

“To see people just bickering back and forth, you know, people that wear shiny shoes and fancy coats and stand behind cameras and talk about how they’re for the people. If you say you’re for the people, then, you know, give them what they need in order to take care of themselves,” Allen said.

House and Senate conferees have been named. It’s unclear when lawmakers will reach an agreement on a plan that would expand Medicaid.

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