Each year, Montana’s health care providers – including doctors, nurse practitioners, and hospitals – treat thousands of low-income people who can’t pay for their care because they can’t afford health insurance. This uncompensated care costs providers, as well as the state and local communities, millions of dollars. Montana can help address this problem of uncompensated care by accepting available federal dollars to expand Medicaid to people earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty line ($16,000 for an individual, and $27,000 for a family of three). Doing so would allow up to 70,000 Montanans to access affordable health care coverage, helping reduce unpaid costs for providers and improving the health of people across the state.
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MBPC is a nonprofit organization focused on providing credible and timely research and analysis on budget, tax, and economic issues that impact low- and moderate-income Montana families.