Cutting health coverage would be mistake
Montana lawmakers are considering changes to the state’s Medicaid expansion that will strip health coverage from tens of thousands of Montanans.
It would be a grave mistake if that happens.
Since lawmakers approved the Medicaid expansion four years ago, some 95,000 Montanans have enrolled. For many, it was the first time they had any kind of health coverage. The bipartisan legislation that enacted the expansion will sunset at the end of June unless lawmakers can reach a deal to keep it going.
Gov. Steve Bullock and fellow Democrats in the Legislature want to leave the program as is, while Republicans want more money to cover increased costs when the federal government’s 100 percent funding of the expansions decreases to 90 percent next year. They hope to do that with combination of fees collected from hospitals, increased premiums from beneficiaries and requiring those beneficiaries to work at least 80 hours a month.
An analysis from George Washington University’s Center for Health Policy Research of a draft of proposed changes to the program found that between 31,000 and 43,000 would lose coverage under those changes.
Taking coverage away from nearly half of those covered by the expansion is bad enough. But the benefits of the expansion extend far beyond those direct recipients.
A study by a pair of University of Montana researchers found that the expansion generates some $600 million annually for the state economy by creating more than 6,000 jobs and $350 million to $385 million in personal income a year – much of that in rural areas woefully underserved by health care services prior to the expansion. All of that new income generates new income tax collections for the state. Taking coverage from as many as 43,000 beneficiaries could cut those economic benefits nearly in half.
Also to be considered is that state hospitals’ $400 million in uncompensated health care has been halved by the expansion. And those hospitals – much to their credit – have agreed to pay some of those savings to help fund the expansion through a fee that will generate some $30 million.
It’s to be expected there will tweaks to the expansion program before enough lawmakers sign on to extend it for another two years. But that needs to happen without taking a step backward and booting beneficiaries off the program.