valley views Invest in our nursing facilities A
s Montanans, we care for each other. Across the rural-urban divide, generational divide, and Brawl of the Wild divide. Of all our constituents across Montana, the most deserving are our elderly neighbors who are on Medicaid benefits. They have served Montana well, and at this final stage in their lives seek the promise of compassionate, medically appropriate care. Most of them are out of money, have used up their care options with family members and loved ones, and cannot afford in-home care, which can cost more than $20,000 a month and is rarely covered by private insurance or Medicaid. Our elder care economy is broken. Since January 2022, more than 10% of Montana’s skilled nursing rest homes have closed. And most of the facilities still operating, whether private or public, are teetering on the edge of closure.
The cancer in Montana’s erate economically and elder care system is the efficiently - they make low Medicaid reimbursegood choices and serve ment rate. The rate averag- their communities. Our es about $212 per day per facilities’ financial probpatient, while actual cost lems are because Medicaid of care is well over $300 rates for nursing homes per day. No facility can are unconscionably low remain financially viable and don’t come close to under these circumstanccovering reasonable costs es, private or public. As a of care. The state isn’t payresult, most ing for services facilities in they’re asking Montana these facilities to Mary Armstrong don’t accept Valley County Commissioner provide. on behalf of Montana counties Medicaid In turn, councustomers, ty taxpayers subleaving few options for sidize the state to keep our those who need services local nursing homes open. the most. Legally, these Medicaid We represent counties residents are the state’s reacross the state - rural, sponsibility, but the state is urban, conservative, libshirking its responsibility. eral, and everything in Most of our counties between. Our message for and critical access hospithe Montana DPHHS, tals in rural communities Governor Gianforte, and support these facilities the 2023 legislature is this: with property tax funded please help save our skilled mill levies. Rural, urban, nursing facilities by invest- conservative and libering in a rate increase for al voters alike see value nursing homes. We need in funding crucial care your leadership now more services for our elderly than ever. neighbors in need. For County facilities opexample, Gallatin County
voters just passed a mill levy to support their county rest home. A majority of voters in every house district precinct supported it, regardless of whether the district elected republicans or democrats to the legislature. We have skin in the game at the local level. Now we’re asking the state to do its part. The state has exceeded its budget to run state hospital and other staterun facilities by millions of dollars because of the skyrocketing costs of operating them. But so far, Governor Gianforte’s administration has not recognized that every facility, including private/for-profit and county-run facilities, is experiencing the same kind of cost increases. This administration pays almost $800 per day to fund care for Medicaid residents in the dementia ward of the state hospital. Yet they’re only paying community facilities about $212 per day for senior long-term
care Medicaid residents. All we ask for is parity raise rates for community facilities and demand for beds at the state hospital will decrease, meaning more elderly Montanans will receive quality care. We’re in this together. No group is more deserving of a safety net than our elderly Medicaid recipients. We urge Governor Gianforte, and members of the 2023 Montana Legislature, to please fix the rate reimbursement for nursing homes. The house is on fire and we need your help. Submitted by Mary Armstrong, Valley County Commissioner, on behalf of the county commissions of: Gallatin Glacier Golden Jefferson Pondera Rosebud Lake McCone Mineral Madison Judith Basin
instinctive and emotional science is able to use to as happiness? identify, quantify and Turns out even predict they have more happy. in common I’ve Jill Pertler than I origialways Syndicated columnist nally thought. thought of Happiness happiness as causes physiological external – something that happens to me. Happichanges within us that
ness comes from going to Disney World, opening presents at Christmas, saying “yes” to the dress, a brand new convertible, landing that dream job, scoring the last slice of chocolate cake, winning the lottery and so on. While this might
sound logical, external experiences and things that happen to us aren’t the real source of happiness. In truth, happiness comes from within. At least that’s what science says. And who are we to ar-
Valley Views
The science of happiness L
ately I’ve been interested in happiness - scientifically speaking, of course. That sounds counterintuitive, oxymoronic even. How can the cut and dried factual-based world of science have anything to do with something as 10 - January 4, 2023
Slices of Life
Valley Journal
see page 11
Phillips Daniels Valley Roosevelt Wibaux Hill Big Horn Missoula
LETTER POLICY Letters to the editor are welcome. The content is the opinion of the letter writer and not the newspaper. The decision to publish letters is made by the editor. Letters must be 350 words or less. A writer will only be published twice per month. Letters may be edited for content or length, or may not be published if considered libelous, in poor taste, spiteful, self-promotional or of limited interest to the general readership. Space limitations also dictate when or if letters are published. Letters must be signed by the author and name, address and phone number must be included – phone number is for verification purposes only. Letters from organizations must include the name of at least one author. Please limit “thank you” letters to four people/organizations or less. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday to publish the following week. Opinions expressed in this section are not necessarily those of the newspaper.