LANSING – In Montcalm County, hard economics times and the elimination of jobs has drastically boosted the number of Medicaid-eligible residents over the last seven years.

From 1999 to 2006, Montcalm County health officials recorded an increase of more than 65 percent in the number of eligible residents, from around 6,000 in 1999 to 10,424 in 2006.

There was also a significant statewide hike in participants, 40 percent, from 1999 to 2006. Currently, 1.5 million Michigan residents are eligible for Medicaid.

According to the Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS), nearly one in every seven Michigan residents now receives health care through Medicaid, a state program that provides services for low-income families and individuals.

Kim Singh, a health officer for the Mid-Michigan District Health Department, said, “The continued increase in individual Medicaid eligibility is a reflection of the economy. It is something we continue to see rising as jobs are lost.”

Montcalm County experienced heavy blows to its economy when companies such as Electrolux and Hitachi Magnetics left the area, eliminating more than 2,800 jobs over the last two years.

Michigan has 26 Medicaid programs, and eligibility depends on the plans offered in each county.

For example, Montcalm residents can apply for three programs: Health Plan of MI (621 members); Molina Healthcare of MI program (4,094 members); and Priority Health Government Programs Inc. program (2,155 members), according to the Department of Community Health. Total enrollment in Montcalm is 6,870, about 10.7 percent of the county’s population.

Singh said the rising cost of healthcare and the rising number of participants has led many medical practitioners in the county to reject new Medicaid patients.

According to Singh, many doctors belonging to the Michigan Medical P.C. (MMPC) refuse new Medicaid patients.

Katy Atchison, a marketing analyst at MMPC, said the group had no comment on why it doesn’t accept them.

Dr. Paul Farr, president of MSMS and a physician in Grand Rapids, said more doctors shy away from Medicaid patients because they can’t afford to help them.

“It is getting harder and harder to treat Medicaid patients. The offices don’t get enough money from Medicaid to cover the cost of treatment,” he said.

David Fox, director of public relations at MSMS, said Medicaid covers only 30 percent to 60 percent of the cost of care, “When Medicaid only pays a small percentage for these visits, it’s up to the doctors to absorb the loss, and many practices can’t afford to take these hits.”

Singh said rejection of Medicaid patients means the patients must seek help elsewhere, such as the emergency rooms of local hospitals, or put their names on a waiting list until a spot is open at a physician’s office.

Dr. Ronald Steury, director of Sheridan Community Hospital’s emergency room, said one-third of the patients in the ER are on Medicaid, as are half of the walk-in clinic’s patients.

Steury said it’s frustrating for the hospital when Medicaid patients come in Monday through Friday during local doctors’ regular office hours.

“They come in for high blood pressures problems and sore throats, things that should be taken care of at a family doctor’s office, but they can’t get in because so many doctors won’t accept them,” he said.

“Timely treatment is very important,” Singh said. “Emergency rooms are the most expensive to cover, so we need to eliminate these barriers that force these patients to go elsewhere.”

Steury said Sheridan Community Hospital physicians accept Medicaid at their family health care offices: Sheridan Care in Sheridan, Stanton 1st Care in Stanton and Edmore Care in Edmore.

Although few local dentists accept Medicaid patients, Singh said Stanton Dentist Center does. The clinic is part of the Mid-Michigan District Health Department, which is trying to expand access to care for Medicaid recipients and working to get eligible residents enrolled.

Singh said local hospitals and the Montcalm Human Services Coalition are also trying to get health care to uninsured residents.

Lisa Lund, of the coalition said promoting health care is an important goal of the organization and its member agencies.

The coalition is made up of leaders from agencies that use social programs to help the county’s more needy residents.

Currently, the Medicaid program is facing a 6.5 percent budget cut to ease the state’s financial hardship.

Fox said, “It’s a bleak picture and it just keeps getting bleaker.”