MONTANA MEDICAID WORKS for Patients: Creating a Healthier Montana

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• Medicaid expansion has been a game changer for expanding access to life-saving preventive care in Montana.

• It is effectively shifting costs from more expensive and less effective treatment of health emergencies to more cost-effective, preventive care that promotes wellness.

• Thanks to Medicaid expansion, more than 94,300 Montanans received preventive services. This includes:

  • More than 8,191 women who received breast cancer screenings;

  • More than 2,631 possible cases of colon cancer were averted; and

  • Close to 31,800 patients who received outpatient mental health services. [i]

• Since Medicaid expansion, Montana’s nationwide health ranking has increased to #21, our highest ranking in more than a decade. [ii]

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MONTANA MEDICAID WORKS for Businesses: Medicaid expansion has served as a small business subsidy with at least 30% of businesses in every county employing Montana Medicaid participants. Medicaid expansion has helped make Montana an even better place to live, work and do business while better positioning our state for economic growth.

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• 3 in 5 Montana employers have workers enrolled in Medicaid.[iii]

• Medicaid expansion has saved Montana businesses millions in health care costs.

• ​Additionally, the HELP Act is expected to generate $1.6 billion in personal income and $2.1 billion in economic output or new sales during its first five years.

 

MONTANA MEDICAID WORKS for Our Communities: Expanding Health Care Makes Montana a More Desirable Place to Live, Work and Do Business

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• Medicaid expansion in Montana has been a bipartisan success providing coverage for close to 100,000 Montanans who would have otherwise fallen in the coverage gap.

• 80 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries are in working families. [iv]

• Among those not working, over 1 in 3 are ill or disabled. [v]

• Medicaid expansion has drastically reduced the rate of uncompensated care, which helps keep our rural hospitals viable. Expanding health care isn’t a red or a blue issue: it’s a Montana value.

 

MONTANA MEDICAID WORKS for Our Workforce: Extending Medicaid to cover the working poor who fall in the coverage gap has built a healthier workforce in Montana.

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The bipartisan HELP-Link program created to help unemployed Medicaid expansion recipients find jobs is effectively helping low-income Montanans find work. [vi]

• More than 90% of participants who completed training were employed. [vii]

• Economic benefits of Medicaid expansion far exceed costs.[viii]

  • Medicaid expansion has added $600 million in economic output to Montana’s economy each year.

  • It has fueled 9,715 new jobs, $793 million in associated wages and $30.5 million in new state tax revenue.