Holy Spirit in Action

Oh, this is interesting. Wonder how it will affect Montana's bill.

Rep. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls A compromise bill to extend Medicaid Expansion, passed narrowly by a House committee Tuesday night, has until just April 1 to be sent to the Senate. A heavily amended bill carried by Rep. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, adds some work requirements but broadens exemptions from his original bill. Audits will monitor the number of people suspended due to failure to meet work requirements and if a court finds them invalid, the program ends in 2025—but could be extended. The bill is expected to pass the House, possibly with more amendments, then goes to the Senate. If passed by both houses, Gov. Steve Bullock would have to decide whether to sign it or veto it.

Hours before a House committee was set to vote on competing bills to extend Montana Medicaid, a new study commissioned by Montana hospitals indicates even larger economic benefits for the state in the past two-and-a-half years. Among the findings: • The expansion has led to an additional $2 billion of economic activity in Montana, using a common economic multiplier effect. It supported or created an additional 9,700 jobs during that time period and nearly $800 million of associated wages. • In fiscal 2017, about 8 percent of Montana’s population was covered by Medicaid expansion — about the same as Washington and Colorado, but less than Oregon (10.8 percent) and more than North Dakota (2.7 percent). South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah did not have expanded Medicaid that year. • Montana’s rate of people without health insurance dropped 56 percent from 2013 to 2016, in large part because of Medicaid expansion. The only other state in the region with a higher percentage drop was Ore

The number of Medicaid Expansion enrollees in Montana could be cut in half under a bill carried by Rep. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, according to an analysis by the governor's office. Buttrey's work and reporting requirements would force recipients off the rolls, the governor's office said. The analysis relies in part on a previous study by George Washington University. 

Saturday's rally at the state capitol for Medicaid Expansion was timed for the start of the hearings before the House Human Services Committee on two bills with competing visions of how best to continue coverage before it expires at the end of June. As t he deadline for the full House to pass an expansion bill and send it over to the Senate is April 1, expect some fireworks in the next two weeks.

Now that HB 658, carried by Rep. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, which adds "community engagement" requirements to Medicaid Expansion has been introduced, it is now possible to analyze the differences between that bill and the one carried by Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Billings. And the Montana Budget and Policy Center has done just that . Bottom line, 40,000 Montanans could lose their health care coverage under Buttrey's bill, including many in Missoula. Here is a look at how Medicaid Expansion has benefited Missoulians and Missoula businesses (taken from the appendices to the MBPC report). The initial hearing on both bills will be on Saturday.

John Adams (Montana Free Press) conducts an excellent discussion with two of the principal actors in this year's Medicaid Expansion debate--Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Billings, whose bill, HB 425, would continue the program as is, and Rep. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, who is drafting a bill that would add what he calls "community engagement" requirements. The in-depth discussion really adds to one's understanding of the debate, and even though it's 40 minutes, it's well worth the listen. (You can always break the listening up into chunks.)

Published in today's Missoulian ( Sunday, March 10, p. E3 ): Medicaid Expansion Works As Is We at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, drawing on our religious traditions, scripture, and the ministry and example of Jesus, support continuing Medicaid Expansion to care for those who simply cannot afford other health care.   Former Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, Desmond Tutu, once said, “...the good news to a hungry person is bread.” He could just as well have said that the good news to a sick -person is health care. Jesus' ministry was filled with healing the sick. He cured them, gave them back their health, renewed life, and restored.   He told us to do likewise. Medicaid Expansion in Montana will expire in June unless continued by the State Legislature. Few people have anything but praise for this program. Some 95,000 Montanans have coverage they didn't have before. They receive medical care earlier, which many recipients say has improved thei

Montana Free Press has a new website that allows you to track the status of all legislation introduced in this biennial session of the Montana Legislature, and also to see each legislator's voting record. Check it out!

Medicaid Expansion has proven a huge boon to Native Americans in Montana. If work and reporting requirements were imposed as a condition of renewing the largely federally funded program, many reservation residents would find it difficult to comply because Indian Country lacks sufficient employment opportunities and infrastructure. The result would be loss of coverage, poorer health and increased costs for the already overstretched Indian Health Service, according to a recent report from the Montana Budget and Policy Center.

Think of case management as the glue that holds a troubled or disabled person’s life together. When that glue was dissolved by huge state budget cuts in 2017, the lives of some people on the margins began to crumble. Now, the legislature is trying to restore perhaps $3 million for case management, but it may be too little, too late or too dissipated to help all those who were affected, especially in rural areas. That, in essence, is the message of the Behavioral Health Alliance, which represents addiction and mental health providers in Montana. A leading indicator of the impact of the budget cuts is that involuntary mental health commitments are up, according to Mary Windecker, executive director of the alliance. More people are being treated in the hospital, a much more costly result, than in a community setting, and often the first point of contact is with law enforcement, with officers often taking hours to deal with mental-health crises.

Is Medicaid expansion a welfare program, as many conservatives believe? Or is it a healthcare program, plain and simple, as many liberals believe? Is it “shelter from the storm”or is it a “destination vacation”? Is the cost sustainable because other costs are reduced or is the cost ultimately unsustainable? These and other issues surrounding Medicaid are discussed in t his 2018 article published in a   conservative Washington, D.C. newspaper. Now, a year later, many of the the same arguments are playing out in Montana. In the upcoming debate over Medicaid Expansion, work requirements for Medicaid recipients will be one of the main bones of contention. Opponents of the requirement are pointing to Arkansas’ troubled experiment with such requirements.

The following letter was written by HSP parishioner Glenn Hladek: I am writing in support of Medicaid Expansion in Montana.  I am not arguing the moral imperative of health care as a right for all citizens of Montana.  Rather I am writing in support of maintaining a Montana way of life.  We are a rural state, we are an agricultural state, we are a ranching and farming state.  Without Medicaid expansion I am worried that this way of life will disappear.  Just as small communities depend upon schools, they depend upon readily-accessible health care.  Without the ability to educate and to provide health care for their families, I fear a forced migration from rural communities to urban cities. Of the 216,000 Montanans who access health care coverage through Medicaid, nearly half are children in Healthy Montana Kids program.  As of May 2017, 95,000 Montanans have enrolled in Montana's Medicaid expansion plan.  Of these individuals, nearly 48% reside outside of Montana's sev

Montana Women Vote and other organizations are staging a rally for Medicaid Expansion at the Capitol at noon on Saturday, March 16 Montana's Medicaid Expansion provides health insurance to nearly 100,000 (1 in 10) Montanans, but without legislative action, the program will expire in June. Some legislators are calling for changes to the program that would kick up to 43,000 Montanans off their health insurance. Join us for a rally to protect Medicaid expansion in Montana. Carpools available! If you would like to carpool, email Ella at ella@montanawomenvote.org