Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Time to make Medicaid expansion permanent
Editorial Board, Bozeman Daily Chronicle
As lawmakers wrap up their work in Helena, there is cause for optimism on the health care front. A bill to make permanent the Medicaid expansion made possible by the Affordable Care Act remains in play.
It’s not perfect nor without its critics. The bill would require those who benefit from the expansion to be working. Critics have assailed this aspect of the bill, arguing that most Medicaid expansion beneficiaries are already working. And the vast majority of those who aren’t working are unable to due to a disability or because they are caring for family members.
That may be so, but if the work requirement is what it takes to get enough lawmakers on board to make the expansion permanent, so be it.
Here are a few things we know: Since the expansion was first enacted four years ago, some 96,000 have gained health care coverage – many for the first time in their lives. The rate of uninsured Montanans has plummeted from 20 percent to 7 percent. The expansion has added 6,500 jobs in the state, staved off closures of rural hospitals and given the economy a $6.5 million boost.
Add the numbers up and the conclusion is inevitable: Medicaid expansion has been an unqualified success.
The 2015 Legislature first endorsed the expansion, which was the first of its kind in the nation by merit of requiring beneficiaries to pay nominal premiums for coverage and participate in job-training programs. That measure was engineered by Rep. Ed Buttrey, a Great Falls Republican. And Buttrey crafted the compromise bill wending its way through Legislature today. Some analysts have argued the work requirement in the bill will be found to be unconstitutional. But only time will tell.
The House passed the permanent Medicaid expansion with 19 Republicans crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats. Now it’s up to the Senate, and we urge our lawmakers in that body to approve the House version this week and send it along for Gov. Bullock’s signature.
Making the Medicaid expansion permanent is the ultimate goal. It’s what’s best for all Montanans.