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This is a study of the contributions made to the economy of the state of Montana by the production, employment, spending and tax revenues that can be attributed to 58 of the state''s hospitals. Hospitals'' high paying jobs, high value-added production, and significant tax payments add to the state economy in their own right. As the dollars paid to employees, vendors and governments are in turn respent in the economy, their ultimate significance grows. The Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at the University of Montana was retained by the Montana Hospital Association (MHA) to carry out an analysis how Montana hospitals enhance the state''s economy. This report summarizes and documents the results. Our basic finding is that Montana hospitals generate considerable economic prosperity, not only for the communities in which they are located, but for the state as a whole. In addition to providing the overall state economic impact, we also report the impacts of 58 individual hospitals across the state.

Medicaid expansion has a substantial effect on Montana''s economy. Assuming that enrollment plateaus near current levels, Medicaid expansion will introduce approximately $350 million to $400 million of new spending to Montana''s economy each year. This spending ripples through Montana''s economy, generating approximately 5,000 jobs and $270 million in personal income in each year between 2018 and 2020. In addition to generating economic activity, Medicaid expansion appears to improve outcomes for Montanans?reducing crime, improving health, and lowering debt. While the state pays a nominal amount for these benefits, the costs to the state budget are more than offset by the savings created by Medicaid expansion and by the revenues associated with increased economic activity.

Medicaid expansion in Montana generates several thousand additional jobs and several hundred million dollars in additional income. It also pays for itself and grows the economy.

Twenty-five years ago, the Family and Medical Leave Act was passed to help working families, but today the law is no longer adequate.

During the past few years, Montana families and children have experienced a range of positive developments, but these improvements have not changed existing disparity gaps. Montana ranks 24th out of 50 states in child well-being.

Q&A with Montana''s leading economists and industry experts on economic issues facing Montana.

Reversing a decades-long trend, it was the rural, eastern counties that led the state in growth and the more populous western counties that suffered the steepest declines.

Need help signing up for insurance in the Montana health insurance marketplace? Picking a health insurance plan can be a complicated process, and navigators can help individuals and small businesses compare health insurance options.

One of the more visible changes soon to be brought to the forefront by passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the health insurance exchange, or marketplace. More than 350,000 Montanans may have some change in health insurance as a result of the ACA, although not all will enter the marketplace.

Nothing short of a revolution is sweeping across hospitals as they prepare to cope with the largest changes in health care regulation and finance since Medicare.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will change the way Montanans use the health care delivery system. According to American Community Survey three-year estimates, approximately 172,000 Montanans are uninsured. As the uninsured gain access to health care coverage, their utilization of the health care system will change. Particularly for primary care, can Montana''s existing primary care workforce accommodate the increase in demand that will follow the newly insured in Montana?

How rich or poor are Americans? Where do they work, and what training do they have for their jobs? What languages do they speak? The American Community Survey is an ongoing survey that provides answers to questions like these and gives communities the current information they need to plan investments and services.

The dynamics behind the expansion of the Medicaid program and its impact on state budgets is a topic of considerable controversy and differences of opinion. There are many moving parts to Medicaid, and no study to date has incorporated all aspects of the Medicaid expansion.

The 2011 national high school graduation rate was 75 percent. The remaining 25 percent, about 1.2 million high school seniors across the country, did not attain a high school diploma.

This article will help you LOOK at the care you get and understand what good care for patients who are leaving the hospital looks like, help you LEARN what you can do to make sure you get the best possible care, and help you LIVE better by taking action to get better care.

Over the next decade, the Affordable Care Act transforms the health care landscape each year as new provisions take effect. This year, several provisions affect Medicare.

Despite nearly two and half years of recession, fewer Montanans are uninsured today than in 2000. And for single coverage in the job-based insurance market, employers seem to be absorbing more of the health insurance costs today than in 2000.

Alcohol taxes increase beverage prices and thus influence drinking among teens and adults. Higher taxes and prices have the potential to reduce alcohol abuse and traffic fatalities and injuries. This study examines alcohol taxes and beverage prices in Montana in relation to these issues.

The economic cost of alcohol abuse in Montana impacts all parts of the economy and is estimated to cost the state $511 million dollars per year. In Montana, an average of 1,700 people are injured in alcohol crashes each year. Bodily harm and life threatening injuries from alcohol related injury crashes account for over 10% of all vehicle crashes in the state, but 20% of all vehicle crashes with injuries in the state.

Ever wondered if that hospital room will be quiet, or if the bathroom will be clean, or if your pain will be managed up to your expectations? These and many other measures are available, by hospital, for consumers expecting a hospitalization.

During the 1920s there was a running joke. There are two classes of people in hospitals: those who entered poor and those who leave poor. Five years later private health care insurance emerged. Today, particularly for those without health insurance, the problems remain the same.

In polls across the country, fixing health care is right up there with fixing the economy. Emotions are high on both sides of the health care debate. The issues driving health care reform are basically twofold: access to health care for the uninsured and cost. Reform of some shape will have to occur because our present health care cost projectory is unsustainable. Exactly when and what shape that reform takes we'll have to see.

Montana recently joined 29 other states by having regulations in place for insurers to offer long-term care insurance partnership plans. New partnership laws encourage individuals to purchase long-term health insurance, thereby protecting assets and reducing the burden on Medicaid. This article discusses the situation of newly-retired Bob Smith, who has just suffered a massive stroke and does not have long-term care health insurance.

Health care spending the in the United Sates continues to have a major impact on the national economy. Even with the increase in spending, 18 percent of Americans under age 65 do not have any health insurance. The lack of federal level reform has lead many states to enact changes to control the level of spending. Montana has made several incremental changes to address the rate of uninsured in the state. However, despite Montana's strong economic growth, the prospect of improvement in the state's uninsured rate is not strong.

Montana has one of the highest rates (19 percent) of uninsured residents in the nation. Most people get health insurance through their employers, yet three out of four Montanans without insurance coverage were, in fact, employed. The 2006 Montana Employer Survey was a random telephone survey conducted in an attempt to fill in major gaps in the state?s knowledge of its uninsured population. This article reports the survey findings.