Why Medicaid Expansion is critical for rural Montanans

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 seven largest urban areas.   In 2017, nearly three-fourths of Montana consumers who accessed coverage through the marketplace resided in rural areas. In addition to primary health care, Medicaid expansion has expanded access to mental health and to substance use disorder treatment, helping to address the opiod and methamphetamine crises ravaging Montana's rural communities.  

Medicaid not only provides health care but also funds health care in rural areas.  Medicaid expansion has become a critical financial lifeline for many rural hospitals.  Since the passage of Montana's Medicaid expansion, the uninsured rate in the state has decreased to 7.4%, payments to Montana health care providers have increased and many providers are reporting fewer uninsured patients and lower uncompensated care costs.  Researchers using nearly a decade's worth of data found that hospitals in Medicaid expansion states were 84% less likely to close their facilities than facilities in non expansion states.  

Rural hospitals and other health care facilities in Montana rely on Medicaid and Medicare as primary payers.  In addition hospital and health care facilities are often primary employers in rural communities.  Closure of these facilities result in the loss of many high-paying jobs and in many cases, hospitals are one of the few sources of such jobs in rural communities.

Medicaid expansion thus supports our citizens to remain in the rural communities, it provides high-paying jobs, and it contributes significantly to our state's economy.  We all value our "Montana way of life"; Medicaid expansion is critical to sustaining that way of life.  Respectively, I ask for your support in Medicaid expansion.

Sincerely,
Glenn A. Hladek

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