Montana To Vote On Measure That Would Pay For Medicaid Expansion Renewal Through Tobacco Tax
The controversial ballot initiative has drawn record spending in the state, with tobacco companies alone having contributed $17 million to fight it. In Utah, The New Yorker profiles some of the activists who worked to secure Medicaid expansion a spot on the ballot.
NPR and Montana Public Radio:
Big Tobacco Spends Big To Block A Tax And Medicaid Expansion In Montana
Montana legislators expanded Medicaid by a very close vote in 2015. The measure passed with the condition that the expansion of Medicaid eligibility in the state would expire in 2019 unless lawmakers voted to reapprove it. And once it expired, people who got Medicaid under the expansion would lose it. Fearing legislators might not renew funding for Medicaid's expanded rolls, Montana's hospitals and other health advocacy groups have come up with a ballot measure to keep it going — and to pay for it with a tobacco tax. (Whitney, 11/2)
The New Yorker:
The Grassroots Activists Who Got Medicaid On The Ballot In Utah
A few months before the accident, President Barack Obama had signed the Affordable Care Act. Under the new law, [Stacy] Stanford would qualify for Medicaid. ... In 2012, however, the Supreme Court ruled that it was up to the states to decide whether they would accept federal dollars to expand their Medicaid programs under the A.C.A.; in 2013, the Utah state legislature, dominated by Republicans, rejected Medicaid expansion (and also passed a law prohibiting the governor from expanding Medicaid without the legislature’s approval). The vote affected approximately a hundred and thirty thousand Utah adults. Stanford was devastated. (Schaffer, 11/1)
