Amazing Speaker for The Mary McCue Montana NAMIWalk Kick Off Lunch

NAMI Montana works to improve the lives of Montanans with mental health conditions and their families through support, education, and advocacy. One of our biggest ongoing efforts is in improving access to care. Access to care is impossible without access to a payment source such as private insurance, Medicaid, etc.

When I first joined NAMI Montana in June of 2008, there was a very critical payment source gap. It was people who did not make enough money at their jobs to be on an insurance plan, yet were working and therefore didn’t qualify for Montana Medicaid.

The people that we served that were in this horrible predicament had symptoms of mental health conditions that made it hard for them to really find success in their career. Yet, they couldn’t get care to help treat those symptoms.

It was a true Catch-22 situation. And if there was an inpatient hospitalization involved, there was also the possibility that they may have to declare medical bankruptcy to get out of the crippling debt.

In 2015, Montana passed Medicaid Expansion. The results of this policy effort, led by then Senator Ed Buttrey, was amazing for Montanans access to mental health care. It was a major political effort, that had to be repeated for reauthorization (2019) and to take away the sunset (2025).

We are delighted to have Ed Buttrey for the featured speaker at this year’s Mary McCue Montana NAMIWalk Kick Off Lunch. It’s a great opportunity to learn about this major healthcare advocacy success and to take lessons for the current and upcoming mental health advocacy fight.

Please consider joining us for the Mary McCue Montana NAMIWalk Kick Off Lunch in the basement of Saint Mary’s Church from noon to one pm on Thursday, August 14th.

You can register a team or donate at this link. https://www.namiwalks.org/montana

Thank you!

Matt Kuntz

Executive Director

www.namimt.org