STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
NAMI-WRV will present a discussion titled “What Does a Stigma-Free Company Look Like?” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, at the Ketchum Innovation Center.
The information event designed to shed a light on mental health issues in the workplace, will be accompanied by light snacks.
The Ketchum Innovation Center is located at 180 W. Sixth St.—a block north of the Ketchum Post Office—in Ketchum.
NAMI—Idaho’s largest mental health non-profit organization—just formally endorsed Idaho’s Medicaid Expansion initiative, which will go before the voters in November, said Christina Cernansky, who heads up the Wood River chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
NAMI Idaho President Michael Sandvig said expanding Medicaid would extend healthcare to the 62,000 Idahoans who earn to much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford other forms of insurance.
“Medicaid expansion is an easy ‘yes,’ ” he said. “It will support over 14,000 jobs and generate $46 million per year in new revenue. It will save millions for the stage general fund by relieving the costs of state-funded indigent care. It will also bring over $500 million of our own tax dollars back into Idaho in its first year alone.”
Cernansky said the need for Medicaid expansion is even clearer with the focus this month on National Suicide Prevention Week. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Idahoans age 15 through 34 and for males up to age 44.
“Several studies have shown that making Medicaid accessible to more Idahoans can help reverse increasing suicide rates,” she said.