Guest Opinion: Take advantage of the $300 million sitting in Medicaid funds | News, Sports, Jobs

On February 6, during a meeting of the House Economic and Labor Committee, Rep. Norm Thurston (62nd District), Republican Rep. Ray Ward, who was planning to introduce a bill to provide Medicaid coverage to more pregnant women. Weakened the goodwill of the Congressman (Bountiful). In poverty. Thurston, an Ivy League-educated academic and executive director of a health data company, seems perplexed that there are so many ways for women living in poverty to receive prenatal care. I heard it. Thurston insulted the doctors’ intentions and implied that Ward and the other doctors were greedy. Despite all public comments in favor of the bill during the hearing, the committee removed a provision that expanded obstetric care for pregnant women living in poverty.

In a quote to KSL News, Thurston said that even after acknowledging that women can only apply for ACA obstetric care during the 10-week annual enrollment period, low-income women already have “employer- or They can access health insurance through the Affordability Act.” . If you’re talented enough to get pregnant within 10 weeks, you’re fine, but if you’re not, then no. Thurston’s other fantasy about employers, health care systems, and low-wage workers is clearly a privileged perspective. Low-wage jobs don’t have health insurance. Ultimately, women have the option of quitting their jobs to qualify for Medicaid or continue working for lower wages, which would leave them unable to afford health insurance.

Thurston said Medicaid is “state” money and can’t just be handed out. In fact, voters passed Medicaid expansion in a statewide referendum. That money accumulates each year, with $300 million currently sitting in an unspent account that will be used in district bills. This requires no other funding or tax increases. But Thurston’s personal animosity toward doctors and low-income women keeps taxpayer dollars stuck there.

Thurston argued that doctors only want pregnant women to receive Medicaid for prenatal care in order to make a quick buck. Physicians who treat patients covered by Medicaid do so because they recognize that they and their unborn children deserve the same consideration as their more affluent patients. If an OB’s practice were based entirely on Medicaid, the OB would go out of business because reimbursement rates would not be sufficient to cover the practice’s overhead costs and malpractice insurance.

Thurston’s refusal to use the funds for their intended purpose also has implications for hospitals. Patients who are uninsured and do not receive prenatal care tend to have a worse prognosis. (Although not mentioned by Thurston) Babies become eligible for Medicaid after birth, and complicated births can cost millions of dollars per birth, so if the outcome is poor, the state will have to pay. It gets even bigger. As a result, either the hospital will have to pay the cost (raising overall medical costs), the hospital corporation will send in debt collectors, or both, further exacerbating the medical debt that is the number one reason for bankruptcy in Utah. It turns out.

Thurston may be an Ivy League economist, but his numbers defy conventional wisdom. The only real option is to make Rep. Ward’s bill complete again.

Kathy Adams was a dance writer for the Salt Lake Tribune (2002-2019) and has written about dance for Salt Lake Magazine, Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine, and others.

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