Let’s set the record straight on Montana’s Medicaid Daily Montanan – Daily Montanan

Plain and simple people get sick.

Right now, more than 250,000 predominantly low-income Montanans get help with healthcare through Medicaida state-federal partnership. Montana has overall and primary responsibility, while the Feds pick up most of the costs, averaging 80% (of total Medicaid spending). In 2022, the Federal government provided $1.8 billion to cover health care for Medicaid-eligible Montanans who live in every county across the Big Sky. Remarkably, two-thirds of Medicaid recipients live in our rural communities.

So, what is Medicaid, and who does it serve?

Not only does Medicaid fund health care services for our lower-income neighbors including children, families, and pregnant moms, but it also covers those with serious disabilities. By reducing the number of uninsured, Medicaid has also helped keep healthcare insurance costs down for everyone while pumping money into Montanas economy. The Medicaid reimbursements for rural and urban healthcare providers keep the doors of healthcare facilities open and help retain healthcare providers. Small businesses also benefit from Medicaid, as they often cannot afford to provide health insurance for their employeeswhether they work full or part-time.

Medicaid Expansion is a critical program for our Native American Montanans. The Indian Health Service continues to be woefully underfunded; a recent series of newspaper articles illustrates the healthcare challenges facing those who reside on reservations. Medicaid has greatly boosted services to Native Americans, allowing them to access a broader range of healthcare providers. The federal government reimburses the care provided to Native Americans on Medicaid at 100%.

Despite the benefits of Medicaid, we now have more than 120,000 Montanans18% of kiddoswho have lost Medicaid coverage due to DPHHSs procedural snafus. The end of the COVID public health emergency necessitated each state to review eligibility for Medicaid. Thats reasonable; however, Montana launched a process that is difficult, confusing, and sometimes impossible for people to reapply or maintain eligibility. The result: Almost one-in-every-three Medicaid recipients has been denied not because of eligibility, but 64% for technical or procedural issues. Montana now has among the highest and worst records in the nation for terminating health insurance for children. Disgraceful.

Reports indicate 4- to 6-hour telephone waits and multiple tries for Medicaid recipients to provide documentation to keep their insurance. Unbelievably, some folks did not know their coverage had been terminated until they arrived at the doctors office. What happened to Gov. Greg Gianfortes political promises of less bureaucracy?

Alarmed by Montanas record, federal healthcare authorities have twice requested changes to this processechoing a chorus of local healthcare providers (such as the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians) asking for a 30-day pause to stop children from losing their coverage. Meanwhile, state officials seem hell-bent on purging the Medicaid rolls, to the detriment of peoples health as well as our economy.

Is this purging a signal of things to come? Medicaid Expansion must be renewedduring the 2025 legislative session. Montanas Medicaid program is not plagued by fraud and abuseexactly the opposite. Its bewildering to think about the consequences of this purge. Ironically there is an ongoing major mental health reform initiative, aimed at expanding access. Yet, many of those losing Medicaid need mental or behavioral health servicesbut will no longer be eligible.

The governor is taking Montana backward, not forward Is this the Montana we want for our children, those less fortunate, or folks in rural areas?

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Let's set the record straight on Montana's Medicaid Daily Montanan - Daily Montanan

Daily Dose – 4 Reasons You Need Health Insurance – Atrium Health

No one wants to be sick or get injured, but it happens. When it does, you want to get better and get back to your life as soon as possible. Having health insurance helps you get and stay your healthiest.

Thats why North Carolina expanded Medicaid, making an additional 600,000 citizens eligible for health coverage. So someone who made too much money to qualify before expansion now might. Medicaid can be used for many of the same services covered by traditional health insurance, including doctor visits, routine check-ups and prescription medicine. For more information about NC Medicaid, visit AtriumHealth.org/Medicaid.

Whether its Medicaid, traditional health insurance or a high-deductible health plan, having health coverage helps you see our experts, who will get you in quickly, treat you well and get you back on the road to better health!

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Daily Dose - 4 Reasons You Need Health Insurance - Atrium Health

‘There was a lot of anxiety’: Florida’s immigration crackdown is causing patients to skip care – POLITICO

One pregnant patient experiencing alarming pain nearly refused to go to an emergency room out of fear that shed be arrested and deported, she said. A staffer at the clinic had to personally escort the patient to the hospital.

There has definitely been an uptick in the nervousness and apprehension that a lot of immigrants already had when they had to think about getting treatment, Thomas said. But I have faith that we will get through this.

DeSantis law is even affecting clinics and organizations that dont receive federal dollars, and the law applies to migrants even though they dont receive Medicaid assistance.

Officials with the Consulate of Mexico in Orlando, which for years has operated a program offering free health care to migrants from all over the world, said fewer migrant women have shown up for free medical check-ups and prenatal care since the law took effect in May. The number of patients accessing free mammograms services, for example, has dropped 18 percent, according to the consulate.

This fear of anything health related has negatively affected the prevention of diseases within our migrant community, the consulate said in a statement.

The consulate does not receive Medicaid reimbursements.

While several states have cracked down on immigration in recent years including a law in Texas that makes it a crime to enter the state illegally from a foreign country Floridas law is believed to be the only one in the nation that requires hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status.

Undocumented immigrants in general arent eligible for federal health benefits, but some states access Medicaid dollars to help undocumented immigrants. Last year, California became the first state in the country to offer health insurance to undocumented immigrants through its Medi-Cal program, which is supported through state and federal taxes..

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'There was a lot of anxiety': Florida's immigration crackdown is causing patients to skip care - POLITICO