News

A glitch in Obama Care for the county

By Scott Wagar

02/25/2014

Like Obama Care throughout the nation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which is supposed to be in operation in Bottineau County isn’t accepting the Expanded Medicaid plan at the moment; however, the medical health facilities in the county are working to fix this issue.

At the present moment, St. Andrew’s Health Center, the Bottineau Clinic and Westhope Clinic cannot accept any individuals’ Expanded Medicaid plan; however, these same health facilities can accept the other ACA plans which have been implemented.    

According to Jodi Atkinson, CEO of St. Andrew’s Health Center, the state of North Dakota’s Expanded Medicaid plan through the ACA is offered through a Sanford Health Plan and goes through a secondary mechanism called Multiplan.

Atkinson added that a number of medical facilities in and around the Bottineau area thought they were ready to accept the Expanded Medicaid plan, but at the last minute, they discovered they were not certified to accept the Medicaid expansion plan.

In Bottineau County, the Sisters of Mary of the Presentation own St. Andrew’s Hospital and 51 percent of the Bottineau Clinic, while Trinity Health in Minot owns the Westhope Clinic and 49 percent of the Bottineau Clinic.

Atkinson stated that St. Andrew’s has gone through the application process to become certified to accept the ACA’s Expanded Medicaid plan, and it appears that within two weeks the facilities should be ready to accept the plan.          

Randy Schwan, vice president of Trinity Health, stated they are currently working on resolving the Expanded Medicaid plan at the Westhope Clinic and should have the issue solved in short order.

Individuals, who have questions on ACA plans, should contact their local healthcare facilities with their inquiries.