Letter to the Editor: Voting to expand Medicaid is a sound investment in Utah’s medical, economic future

October 23, 2018 Utah Channel 3

OPINION — I have been working in St. George at the Family Healthcare Clinic for close to four years. We are one of Utah’s 13 Community Health Centers (CHCs), which provide health care to Utah’s urban and rural populations with limited access to care. CHCs are community-based and patient-directed organizations that meet the unique needs of the communities they serve.

In 2017, 46 percent of the population that came through the doors of Family Healthcare were uninsured. What I can tell you about our patients, besides their insurance status, is that they are working hard to make ends meet.

Our uninsured patients belong to the many families who make up our communities and work to make our communities pleasant places to live. They come through our doors in need of health care services.

Statistics show that the uninsured are less likely than those with insurance to receive preventive care and services for major health conditions and chronic diseases. Many uninsured people don’t obtain the treatments that their health care providers recommend for them.

In 2016 alone, uninsured non-elderly adults were three times as likely as adults with private coverage to say that they postponed or did not get a needed prescription drug due to cost (18 percent vs. 6 percent).

Fabiola, who was pregnant and living in Cedar City attended our Cedar City Clinic where she was cared for by a primary provider who cared for her during most of her pregnancy. Like 75 percent of our patients Fabiola was uninsured.

Fabiola moved to St. George in her late pregnancy and her baby was born in St George – a healthy boy! When her son, Gabriel, was a month old, Fabiola and her husband drove to Cedar City to meet with her provider and introduced her son to her. The provider was thrilled. She and Fabiola bonded during her pregnancy and she was more than the provider who cared for her during her pregnancy; she was a trusted friend.

Fabiola also took advantage of our 340b prescription program with Smith’s Grocery and Pharmacy both during and after her pregnancy and received her prescriptions at deeply discounted costs. The entire family are patients at Family Healthcare receiving high quality primary and patient-centered health care.

As another example, “McKeanna” unfortunately had some severe addictions, like many other Utahns (in 2018, Utah ranked nationally seventh for opioid addiction). She lived with these addictions for eight or so years.

Her family pretty much had given up on her thinking her brain was fried and she would never be able to function again. Her uncle and aunt hadn’t seen her for years, and the last time they saw her she was skin and bones.

Recently they ran into her at Walmart and she looked fabulous. She had gained 60 pounds and was happy, bubbly and positive. She told her uncle and aunt of her goals and so many good things happening in her life. When her uncle asked her what happened to turn the corner for her, she said it was Family Healthcare’s Psych APRN. She said with her personal connection, gentle guidance and change of medications, it changed her life completely.

She just raved about how her provider basically saved her life. Her uncle asked her if she would ever like to share her experience and she said for sure she would. And I’m sharing that now. It’s another story we love and believe reflects Family Healthcare’s commitment to our patients.

Right now, Utah voters have the opportunity to expand health care coverage to over 150,000 Utahns. Many Utahns earning less than $17,000 per year for an individual, or less than $34,000 per year for a family of four are uninsured. By expanding Medicaid, we will get back $9 for every healthcare dollar raised by a sales tax increase of 0.15 percent on nongrocery items – less than two cents on a $10 purchase.

By triggering this federal match, we can bring home over $800 million in federal funding every year from Washington D.C. The return of our tax dollars being put back into Utah’s economy will generate $1.7 billion in statewide economic growth, and create nearly 14,000 new jobs, mostly in the health care sector. For Family Healthcare that could mean nine additional new staff members to service our community.

Some of the most important services that CHCs offer are preventive services and screenings that stop people from becoming sick in the first place. Proposition 3 is an important and sound investment in the future of our state, both medically and economically. Join me in voting yes on Proposition 3.

Submitted by LORI WRIGHT, St. George, Utah. Wright is the CEO of Family Healthcare.

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