Rotary Recap 12.3.2014

 

Paul Luce with the Miami County Medical Center shared information about the expansion of Medicaid. He shared a lot of information and statistics to help put the issue into perspective. 
 
  • The goal of the Affordable Care Act was to provide insurance to everyone and focus on preventive care so that long-term health issues could be avoided
  • Each state was tasked with expanding Medicaid
  • Kansas is one of 19 states that have not expanded
  • 1 in 6 people still live without health insurance in the Sunflower state (~369K)
  • There is a significant gap between not having enough money to receive the subsidy and earning too much money to qualify for Medicaid (~169K)
  • ​Approximately 100K of those are working yet still don't qualify for insurance
  • The longer the state does not expand Medicaid, the more money we lose (~$1.6B annually)
  • Paul pointed out the benefits of preventive care - less $$ is spent treating long-term conditions that are exacerbated by people only making ER visits as a means of health care. 
  • He stressed that if pennies were spent in diagnosis and on-going treatment, thousands would less likely be spent on emergency care
  • Expanded Medicaid would result in significant economic growth
 
Guest Book:
  • Charity Keitel is the new Louisburg Herald reporter