Report details benefits of Medicaid expansion

A new report detailing economic contributions from Montana’s Medicaid expansion shows the program contributes more than $600 million to the state’s economy every year.

The report was released this week as lawmakers continue to mull the fate of the program.

Medicaid expansion, which provides benefits to nearly 95,000 Montanans, is a key issue of the 2019 legislative session. The current plan, which passed during the 2015 session, is scheduled to sunset in July if it does not receive the votes to continue. Montana would become the first state in the nation to end its Medicaid expansion, should lawmakers decide to do so.

According to the report, heard by the Republican-led Legislature yesterday, in 2020 the expansion would support nearly 6,000 jobs and $350 million in personal income.

“Medicaid expansion in Montana brings with it significant benefits for our state, including more jobs and income for our citizens, not to mention providing health-care coverage for nearly 1 in 10 Montanans,” Headwaters Foundation Chief Executive Officer Brenda Solorzano said in an online statement.

A portion of the 56-page report, commissioned by Headwaters Foundation and the Montana Healthcare Foundation, breaks down the economic impacts by regions as well, which are “somewhat proportional to population.”

Flathead County falls into the Northwest region along with Granite, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula and other counties. The report estimates that, cumulatively from 2016 to 2020, Medicaid expansion in the Northwest region would contribute $549 million in personal income — the most of the five regions.

Gov. Steve Bullock, whose office has touted various reports on the economic impacts of the program, continues to be a fierce advocate for continued expansion.

“As health-care coverage provides life-saving care, it also helps Montanans to continue to succeed in the workforce. This report confirms Montanans must be able to access the benefits of Medicaid expansion,” he said in an online statement.

The new report emerged on the heels of a different report from the state Department of Labor & Industry released earlier this month. That report delved into how Medicaid expansion contributed to Montana’s businesses from 2016 to 2017, the first two years of the program.

According to Labor & Industry report, 18,000 businesses employed a worker enrolled in Medicaid expansion, and every county had at least 30 percent of its businesses employing Medicaid expansion participants.

In addition, seven out of 10 Montanans on Medicaid were working and eight of 10 were in working families. Those numbers are according to the two-year time-line that was studied.

And in Flathead County, more than 60 percent of businesses, or about 1,600 companies, employ workers enrolled in Medicaid. Numbers for Flathead are on par with other counties making up the northwest corner of Montana, including Lincoln, Sanders, Mineral, Missoula, Lake and Glacier counties.

The economic impacts of Medicaid expansion also contribute to other factors. According to the report released this week, “in addition to generating economic activity, Medicaid expansion appears to improve a variety of other outcomes — reducing crime improving health, lowering debt and creating a more robust health-care sector.”

Findings in the Headwaters report back the Democrats’ argument that expansion is not only beneficial to the health of those who rely on it, but also how the impacts tend to ripple beyond health care alone. Democrats plan to introduce a bill that will keep the current plan in place, which would cost the state an estimated $60 million per year come 2020 — a figure that is roughly 9 percent of the total federal dollars brought into the state each year through the program.

On the other hand, Republicans, though they generally don’t support ending the program, believe it is being “misused” and are considering requesting additional requirements be in place for those seeking Medicaid coverage. For instance, some have cited concerns about the lack of a work requirement, which would require people to work in order to receive benefits — an idea that was denied by the Obama administration. Republicans are working on their own bill for continued expansion.

Montana voted against a ballot initiative in November that would have partially funded continued Medicaid expansion by way of increased tobacco tax.

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4439 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com