Medicaid expansion hot topic
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Will the 64th Montana Legislature pass Medicaid expansion? Or should we?
After the water compact, I have received the most comments about Medicaid expansion. Currently there are 127,718 Montanans on Medicaid, 177,835 eligible for Medicare and 19,211 on CHIPS, the children’s healthcare program.
Our population is just over one million. That means one third of Montanans are already eligible for some health program.
Let’s go back to the 1960s. Medicaid was started to pay for healthcare of the lowest income Americans, the disabled, pregnant women, and children.
It was never meant to pay the medical expenses for able-bodied adults.
Obamacare is actually harming some of Montana’s programs. We had an insurance program for the uninsurable, Montana Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA). With Obamacare it goes away.
The Insure Montana program offered insurance for the employees of small businesses with two to nine employees. There were 1,000 businesses using the assistance and 175 on the waiting list. Our state Auditor/Insurance Commissioner was trying to get our program approved by the feds as part of the jobs program in Obamacare. With the number of people on Medicaid, Medicare and CHIPS, the governor’s plan states it will insure 70,000 more people, and create 12,000 more jobs. That’s about one new job for every six people on the proposed expansion. We are short medical professionals now, doctors and nurses. Will they just appear when we pass Medicaid expansion?
So, doctors will have a greater workload and Medicaid offers less reimbursement. Already many doctors are refusing more Medicaid patients. And Medicaid not only tells doctors how much to pay, but what to treat.
A new study by the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found half of all providers listed in Medicaid managed-care plans are unavailable to new Medicaid patients, either because they are not at the listed location or because they are simply not accepting new Medicaid patients.
The same study found that for doctors who are accepting new Medicaid patients, the average wait to get an appointment is two weeks, with a quarter of patients experiencing waits of one month or longer. States should demand flexibility from the federal government so they are able to innovate their Medicaid systems to fit their needs.
A 2012 report from the US Government Accounting Office detailed Medicaid enrollees that had other coverage. In Montana Medicaid covered 23,540 people that had private insurance at the same time. And 33,280 had another public coverage, like VA.
We hear all the time about the aging of Montana. We are already the fourth highest in elderly per capita. Yes, I too am eligible for Medicare.
Obamacare took $716 billion out of Medicare.
Last Monday SB 262 to ratify the water compact with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes was heard in Senate Judiciary. There were busloads of people in attendance. I am writing this before the committee takes their vote.
Thank you for all the comments. Wish I could answer them all. I’m about 150 behind. Leave me a message at (406) 444-4800. My cell is (406) 253-8766 but it is usually off. Email me at sen.janna.taylor@mt.gov. Remember that I work for you.
