LTE: Montana Medicaid bill is important
Stacy Brown, Billings Gazette
As the executive director of Family Service here in Billings, I see our community’s most vulnerable on a regular basis, which is why I am writing in support of HB658 to continue Medicaid expansion in Montana. Medicaid expansion currently provides health coverage for one in 10 Montanans and in Yellowstone County alone, it has provided access to nearly 15,000 preventative services like cancer and diabetes screenings.
HB658 will continue to support our rural communities that have benefited heavily from expansion but also our urban communities like Billings that are medical hubs. I support HB658 as a bipartisan compromise that protects care, limits harm, and allows Medicaid expansion to continue. Time is running out for HB658 to get to the governor’s desk and we need the Senate to move the bill forward without further amendments. Nearly 100,000 Montanans are counting on it.