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Medicaid Expansion Benefits Rural Residents, Says New Report

Medicaid expansion advocates gathered enough signatures for a November ballot initiative on whether to expand the federal health insurance program.
James Dawson
/
Boise State Public Radio
Medicaid expansion advocates gathered enough signatures for a November ballot initiative on whether to expand the federal health insurance program.

Idaho and Utah voters will decide whether to expand Medicaid at the ballot this November. Those voters might want to look at a report out this week that assessed how the expansion of the federal health care program played out. 

The study out of Georgetown University shows that the number of uninsured adults went down in states that expanded Medicaid. Colorado in particular saw one of the biggest drops.The report also shows that expansion increased access to healthcare in rural areas - that’s about a quarter of the population in our region as a whole.  

Lauren Necochea is with the nonprofit Idaho Voices For Children and says:

"By helping keep rural hospitals open, Medicaid helps not only families that enroll but also entire communities that benefit from the availability of rural health care providers."

In the Mountain West, Colorado and Montana are among 34 states that have opted to expand Medicaid. Idaho, Wyoming and Utah did not. Although that might change come November.  

 

Find reporter Amanda Peacher on Twitter  @amandapeacher .

Copyright 2018 Boise State Public Radio

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

Copyright 2020 Boise State Public Radio News. To see more, visit .

Amanda Peacher is an Arthur F. Burns fellow reporting and producing in Berlin in 2013. Amanda is from Portland, Oregon, where she works as the public insight journalist for Oregon Public Broadcasting. She produces radio and online stories, data visualizations, multimedia projects, and facilitates community engagement opportunities for OPB's newsroom.
Amanda Peacher
Amanda Peacher works for the Mountain West News Bureau out of Boise State Public Radio. She's an Idaho native who returned home after a decade of living and reporting in Oregon. She's an award-winning reporter with a background in community engagement and investigative journalism.