Ellen Schafer, Bismarck, letter: Medicaid expansion can save lives in N.D.

BISMARCK — This year in North Dakota, an estimated 3,500 people will be diagnosed with cancer, and another 1,280 will die of the disease. People without health coverage are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at its later stages, when patients are less likely to survive and treatments are more costly.

Our Legislature now has a chance to help in the fight against cancer. The federal government has allocated funds to increase access to health care through Medicaid coverage for hard-working, low-income families in our state.

More and more states are taking advantage of this opportunity, based on the fact that covering more people makes moral and fiscal sense.

We can cover more people and save millions of taxpayer dollars that currently are being spent to treat the uninsured in emergency rooms.

If North Dakota makes the right choice and extends lifesaving health coverage, 32,000 people in North Dakota who cannot now afford critical care will have the security of knowing they have access to proven cancer screenings and treatments.

I urge the Legislature to accept the federal dollars already allocated for North Dakota and to be a leader in the fight against cancer.

Schafer is a volunteer in the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

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