Bullock touts Medicaid plan in Ronan
Megan Strickland
Governor Steve Bullock explained his reasoning for expanding Medicaid in a Ronan presentation.
Megan Strickland
Governor Steve Bullock tours St. Luke Hospital in Ronan Feb. 11 with CEO Steve Todd.
Megan Strickland
Representative Dan Salomon, right, discusses healthcare issues with Steve Todd.
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
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A bipartisan coalition is much more likely to pass some form of Medicaid expansion to provide health coverage for approximately 70,000 uninsured Montanans in the ongoing legislative session than last session, Governor Steve Bullock said after a tour of St. Luke Community Hospital on Feb. 18.
Bullock and Republican State Representative Dan Salomon said the lines in the sand that were drawn last session over the issue are breaking down, and some type of reform is likely to pass – though everyone has their own idea of what it will look like.
“I think we are proposing a great plan,” Bullock said. “But I’ve said all along that the most important thing isn’t necessarily getting my plan through.”
Bullock’s proposal to the legislature was to model coverage for those currently living within a coverage gap – too wealthy or unqualified for traditional Medicaid, but too poor for private insurance – to be fully insured by a third party insurance company to manage the population. It is modeled after the Healthy Montana Kids Program, which provides services to low income children in the state.
Bullock’s plan would fully utilize approximately $100 million of federal funding to help subsidize coverage through 2020. It would provide coverage for families of three sustained on less than $11 per hour wages and individuals who earn less than $7.25 per hour. The program would remain funded 90 percent by the federal government. Another Republican-proposed plan would not utilize those dollars or expand coverage to as many people, according to Bullock.
“I think there are some plans that are more trying to say we’re doing something than actually doing it,” Bullock said. “There are some folks who will say that these 70,000 folks don’t need insurance, but they show up at your emergency room and the vast majority of them are working.”
In Lake County, more than 2,000 people are estimated to live without insurance, putting a burden on local hospitals.
St. Luke CEO Steve Todd said uncompensated charity care cost the hospital $3.5 million in 2013 and $3.7 million in 2014. Those costs end up being paid for by raising the price of services. When the Affordable Care Act set in during 2014, Todd said the hospital held insurance enrollment fairs, but at the end of the day many people were turned away because they were not eligible for coverage.
“To get to that point and have to go ‘There’s really nothing we can do for you here,’ was really disappointing,” Todd said.
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Director of Tribal Health and Human Services Anna Whiting Sorrell said that Native Americans make up 20,000 of the uninsured in the state. She pointed out that native men and women on average die two decades before their Caucasian counterparts, though they are supposed to be eligible for care through Indian Health Services.
Sorrell said the Tribes recently received a 66-page document inventorying basic diagnostic procedures that were denied by IHS in a six-month time frame. Most people denied care would be covered by Medicaid expansion.
Sorrell was not enthusiastic about the Republican-proposed alternative to Bullock’s plan.
“Our tribal council members are testifying today before a House committee that has a bill to expand Medicaid that really doesn’t expand Medicaid,” Sorrell said. “What it does is gets care for a few people.”
Salomon said the parties are trying to put aside partisan differences and work together.
“We missed our chance last time,” Salomon said. “So what are we going to do about it? Are we going to play politics? We have a lot of people who are saying ‘no,’ and that we need to take advantage of this opportunity. There are some issues, no bones about it. There are some issues we are trying to work through, but at the end of the day, how do we keep our hospitals going?”
