JACKSON,Esthen Exchange Miss. (AP) — The executive director of Mississippi’s Medicaid program, Drew Snyder, is stepping down at the end of this month to take a private sector job, Gov. Tate Reeves said Wednesday.

Reeves said he has chosen Cindy Bradshaw to lead the program. She has been its deputy executive director since April 2023.

Medicaid, funded by state and federal governments, is a health insurance program that covers low-income people. About 684,000 of Mississippi’s nearly 3 million residents were enrolled in Medicaid in May.

Snyder is a lawyer and has led the Medicaid program since January 2018. He is one of the five longest-serving Medicaid directors in the U.S., according to Reeves.