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By Mark Moran - Producer-Editor, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - One of America's largest farm groups points to the latest Federal Trade Commission report that shows the country's biggest corporate food companies have been gouging consumers on prices since the pandemic, even though the supply chain disruptions have largely abated. Companies say they are facing competitive and regulatory pressures driving up prices and fees. Comments from Angela Huffman, executive director, Farm Action.
Click on the image above for the audio. Corporate grocery chains raised prices well above what was necessary during the pandemic, and continue to do so today, according to a report by the Federal Trade Commission. (Adobe Stock)
Mark Moran
May 13, 2024 - The latest report from the Federal Trade Commission says despite an easing of pandemic-related supply chains and economic stressors, major grocers across the country are still overcharging people for groceries - including in Montana.
Farm Action Executive Director Angela Huffman said three of the country's largest food suppliers did not reduce their profit margins when COVID supply-chain issues eased - which would have made groceries easier, and presumably cheaper, to get.
"That's Kroger, Walmart, and Amazon," said Huffman. "They took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to reap excessive profits and gain more market power."
The FTC report shows the average large retailer's revenue's were 6% higher than their total costs in 2021, and then jumped to 7% - even after the pandemic supply chain disruptions eased.
Montanans spend and average of $246 a week on groceries. That's 40th highest in the nation, but prices rose well above profits in Montana, too.
Grocers have blamed competitive pressure and higher fees for the price hikes.
Huffman agreed that America runs on profitable companies, including in the farm sector.
But she contended, with the FTC report as evidence, that the grocery conglomerates were - and still are - going well above what is fair to U.S. consumers under the guise of being forced to react to a crisis.
"But what these companies did is use the pandemic as an excuse to exploit the American people who needed to put food on their tables," said Huffman. "And the FTC report shows that they're still doing it now, here in 2024."
Huffman argued the dominant firms also blamed supply-chain disruptions to raise prices higher than necessary and increase profit margins on fertilizer, meat and eggs in recent years.
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PNS - Monday, May 13, 2024 - A bipartisan move to stop stock trading by members of Congress stalls, several of Trump's potential VPs refuse to say they'll accept any election results, and a Virginia school board restores the names of Confederate leaders to schools.
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PNS - Sunday, May 12, 2024 - Protests at college campuses in the U.S. begin to fade as graduations are held, but support organizations continue to guide students; New data from Ohio State University researchers show nearly 1 in 5 older adults are not prepared for emergencies; a new study finds the flame retardants used in the seats of many cars emit toxic gases.
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Uncompensated care, uninsured patients driving public health clinic into the red in Montana’s largest city
The campus of RiverStone Health in downtown Billings (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan).
Citing the Medicaid “redetermination” process and challenges with reimbursement, RiverStone Health, the community health arm of Montana’s largest county, has announced that it is cutting 29 staff positions within the next month.
In a press release on Friday, RiverStone Health said it has been taking steps to reduce its budget, but losses of more than $3 million in Medicaid have led to the reductions that will be finalized mid-June, before the end of the organization’s fiscal year.
In total, the health care organization with a prominent footprint in downtown Billings said that it has cut nearly 9% of its workforce across the organization, including employees who were let go after some programs closed. Those include a rural schools travel nurse program and one inpatient hospice care.
“Several senior leadership positions and managerial roles were also consolidated or eliminated because of these challenges,” the press release said. “Rising costs, lower-than-expected patient volumes for primary care services and stagnant reimbursement rates have been exacerbated by the Medicaid redetermination process that began in April 2023.”
That redetermination process has been two-fold in Montana. While the Montana Legislature increased reimbursement rates for providers during the 2023 session, lawmakers have been hearing from organizations across the state that reimbursements lag months behind. Also, Montana’s “redetermination” rate — which tracks how many people in the state continue on the Medicaid rolls — has dropped at a higher-than-anticipated rate, with many losing healthcare coverage for lack of paperwork. Montana has also been among the states with the highest percentage of children dropped from the program.
“Despite efforts to keep all eligible Montanans enrolled in Medicaid, RiverStone Health has seen a drastic decline in the number of enrolled Medicaid patients, even though most patients still qualify for Medicaid,” the release said.
RiverStone Health is a federally-qualified health center, which means that it provides medical, dental and behavioral healthcare, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.
“However, as more Montanans lose healthcare coverage because of inefficiencies in the Medicaid unwinding process, the burden of this uncompensated care impacts the livelihood of both our patients and our staff,” the statement from RiverStone said.
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services did not respond for requests for comment on Friday afternoon.
RiverStone said affected employees will receive a support package that includes a 30-day notice, access to assistance and support service and will be able to apply for any internal vacancies.
“Everyone impacted by these reductions plays a vital role in protecting life, health and safety,” said Jon Forte, RiverStone Health president and chief executive. “The elimination of these positions does not diminish the incredible difference they’ve made in serving our community.”
The losses, particularly in Montana, have been higher than normal. While 10 million people nationwide have lost Medicaid coverage since “unwinding,” a process in which states verified which patients qualified for Medicaid after a freeze on disenrollments during the pandemic, Montana has had the highest percentage of children disenrolled from April through December 2023, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. And the organization Cover Montana, which was launched to help stem the number of people losing insurance, said that 64% of those who have been “disenrolled” are doing so because of “procedural reasons,” often just a lack of paperwork.
Forte said that the number of patients RiverStone serves has seen close to 70% being disenrolled because of paperwork issues.
“We’ve been trying to help as many patients as we could, with some of our patient-care coordinators double and triple booked,” Forte said. “They have waited for hours on the phone and stood for hours in line at state assistance locations.”
Forte said RiverStone Health has around 14,000 patients, comprising a mix of Medicare, Medicaid, self-pay and private-pay insurance. About 1,600 patients have lost coverage, and that’s resulted in more than $3 million in uncompensated care. That amounts to more than 6% of RiverStone’s budget.
Regardless, clinics and other hospitals like RiverStone don’t have the ability to deny care, and so the organization experiences an uncompensated loss. While Forte said RiverStone’s client mix is more dependent upon Medicaid, he believes other hospitals and healthcare systems may be facing similar losses because of uncompensated medical care.
“We would never ever turn away an individual because of an inability to pay,” Forte said. “We’re just caught up in a negative trend. But, now we’re being forced to reduce our quality and dedicated staff at a time when we need a strong healthcare workforce and healthcare access.”
Despite the cuts, Medicaid in Montana has conversely seen an equally strong positive support from residents.
In a poll released last week, as many as 80% of Montanans favor Medicaid, and increases in reimbursements to agencies ranging from hospitals to nursing homes.
An annual report, released this week by the Montana Healthcare Foundation, shows that while most insurance costs have risen, Medicaid expenses for the state of Montana, as a percentage of the state budget, have remained flat. Moreover, more expensive in-patient and emergency department services have been replaced by less expensive preventative services.
Finally, Montana was singled out as possibly the only state in the country which was able to successfully bargain for work-requirements for those enrolled in Medicaid. The program required some work or retraining to remain enrolled. According to the same Montana Healthcare Foundation report, nearly 97% of the residents enrolled in Medicaid in Montana are either disabled, work at least part-time or spending full-time taking care of other family members.
In addition to residents losing coverage, providers have also reported widespread delays in reimbursement for providers across the state. Forte said larger clinics, like RiverStone, experienced some of the delays early on during the “redetermination” process, but the state has largely resolved that. He said at one point, RiverStone was waiting more than 12 months for reimbursement on some patients. However, he said some smaller providers are still reporting as long as an eight-month wait.
