Por Johnathan Hladik, exdirector de políticas
On March 8, the Center for Rural Affairs released a Rural Policy Brief examining the basic economic and income issues for all Nebraskans connected to expanding Medicaid.
Nebraska is one of 17 states not adopting Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. This has left thousands of working Nebraskans without access to affordable health care. The economic consequences of this decision are significant.
More than 79,000 Nebraskans are caught in a “coverage gap.” These individuals live in households with too much income to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to qualify for the premium tax credits that make health insurance affordable. Most are parents. The majority work. All live in our communities.
Cada persona cubierta por un programa ampliado de Medicaid podría ahorrar 1,100 dólares anuales en gastos médicos de bolsillo. Si se invirtieran localmente, estos ahorros generarían 800 nuevos empleos potenciales, 32 millones de dólares en ingresos adicionales y 4.9 millones de dólares en ingresos fiscales estatales y locales.
For every $1 Nebraska invests in Medicaid expansion, an additional $13.41 in federal funding will enter our state’s economy. Much of this is allocated to our hospitals, which stand to lose $1.6 billion over a 10-year period through our failure to expand Medicaid. This results in more than $3 billion of missed opportunity for the Nebraska economy.
Bringing those lost revenues back to Nebraska to help address the challenges hospitals face in the form of uncompensated care provided to uninsured Nebraskans is vitally important, for rural hospitals in particular.
Our report also emphasizes that access to health insurance is lowest in rural Nebraska. Of the 37 counties with the highest rate of uninsured individuals, 32 are rural. Overall, a higher percentage of rural Nebraskans are without health insurance than their urban counterparts.
Medicaid expansion is a smart investment in the people of rural Nebraska. You can see the "Dollars and Sense of Health Care Access" in Nebraska brief here.
Feature image: Nebraska residents talk with Sen. Les Seiler (District 33) about access to health care during a lobby day the Center co-sponsored to show support for LB 1032, the Transitional Health Insurance Program Act. | Photo by Traci Bruckner
