At an Urban Institute panel on depression and low-income Americans on Thursday, Marla McDaniel of the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population pointed out that low-income American mothers are “more likely to have severe depression.”

Fortunately, Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion will help offer those low-income mothers the crucial preventative and mental health services they need to treat their clinical depression. Especially considering the economic disparity between those who are affected by depression — and the lack of sufficient treatment options for low-income Americans — states that choose to expand Medicaid under Obamacare will make important strides toward ensuring low-income mothers have the health resources they need:

Eighty two percent of infants living in households with depressed mothers were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP programs, health care programs for low-income people, according to a separate 2010 report by the Urban Institute about children affected by maternal depression. Of the mothers, at least 40 percent were not receiving any treatment. Outcomes were consistently worse for uninsured families.

Having a lower-income household also affected the type of mental health provider treating the women, according to the draft paper. Ten percent of lower-income mothers visited a psychiatrist and received a prescription to treat their symptoms, about half as many as the higher-income mothers. Seven percent of the low- income mothers received treatment from social workers, compared to 2 percent of higher income women and 5 percent of the uninsured.

But states choosing to participate in the expansion of Medicaid could improve access to the prevention and treatment women need, said Larke Huang, a psychologist and senior adviser at the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, who was also part of the forum. Medicaid currently covers pregnant women considered “medically needy,” who might not meet income requirements. The coverage continues until six months after they give birth. In states that expand the program, many of those women will now qualify for the program after the six-month period, she said.

In fact, when mothers’ depression goes untreated, it results in significant social costs that extend well beyond the early childhood period. According to Scientific American, depressed mothers are less likely to have a strong cognitive bond with their children or be employed, leading to excess stress in households — and ultimately perpetuating a vicious cycle in which untreated mental health conditions negatively impact the prospects of future generations.

Furthermore, a disproportionate number of Latino and African-American children live in single-mother household, and seven in ten children in such families are in a low-income household. These are communities that are already struggling with the effects of decades of racial and class bias — and a lack of preventative mental health resources only exacerbates that historical gap.

But while Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion could provide some relief to these families, GOP governors in poor states with high uninsurance levels have been refusing to take part in the program. So far, Nevada’s Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) — whose state has a high concentration of poor Hispanics and African Americans — has been the only Republican state official to embrace expanding his state’s Medicaid pool.

On Wednesday, Gov. Brian Sandoval (R-NV) became the first Republican governor to endorse Obamacare’s expansion of the Medicaid program, noting that expanding Medicaid is the right thing to do for the 78,000 low-income residents Nevada will be able to add to its rolls.

And now Sandoval’s fellow Republicans are coming out in support of the governor’s decision, backing his plan to extend health coverage to their state’s poorest residents:

State Senate Republican leaders lined up Wednesday to back Gov. Brian Sandoval’s decision to expand Medicaid eligibility for Nevada’s poorest residents. [...]

“Ensuring that poor Nevadans have access to primary health care through Medicaid is very simply the right thing to do, both for our citizens and our economy,” said Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Henderson.

Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, said expanding Medicaid to include poor childless adults — a population segment historically excluded from Nevada’s Medicaid eligibility — will help improve the state’s rates for chronic illnesses.

However, the GOP voices of support for Medicaid expansion still remain in the minority. Other conservatives in Nevada are skeptical about Sandoval’s decision to implement a crucial part of the Affordable Care Act, warning that it may end up being too costly for the state — despite the fact that expanding Medicaid will actually save Nevada an estimated $17 million, thanks to the additional federal government funding designated for states that choose to expand their programs.

And across the country, Republican governors are digging in their heels against health care reform at the expense of their states’ poorest residents. GOP governors in some of the states with the highest rates of uninsurance, like Texas and Florida, have already explicitly rejected Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, denying health coverage to thousands of low-income Americans who need it.

Gov. Brian Sandoval (R-NV) told the Associated Press on Tuesday that he plans to accept Obamacare’s expansion of the Medicaid program to extend coverage to additional low-income residents in his state. Sandoval is the first Republican governor to commit to expanding Medicaid, as GOP leaders across the country have continued to resist that crucial provision of the health care reform law despite several reports confirming the economic benefits from the provision.

The governor acknowledged that even though he remains a staunch opponent to the Affordable Care Act, expanding the state’s eligibility will help tens of thousands of people who would not otherwise been able to access health coverage. About 22 percent of his residents are currently uninsured, and participating in the Medicaid expansion will allow Nevada to add 78,000 low-income residents to its rolls:

“All in all, it makes the best sense for the state to opt in,” he said. “This is a way for me to protect these people.” [...]

Sandoval scoffed at being compared to other Republican governors who have opposed expanding Medicaid or setting up health insurance exchanges, something he agreed to two years ago.

“I have to look at Nevada,” he said. “I’m not going to compare myself to any other governor. I have to look at the consequences of this very complicated law.”

And since the federal government will cover the cost of the expansion for the first several years, Sandoval noted that expanding his state’s Medicaid program will actually save Nevada money. The state will be able to put $16 million in federal funding toward its mental health programs, which otherwise would have been funded though Nevada’s general fund.

Even though Sabdoval declined to compare himself to the other GOP governors who are rejecting the Medicaid dollars, those lawmakers could benefit from taking a page out of his book. Some of the loudest Obamacare opponents are Republican governors from sates with the highest rates of uninsurance in the nation — but unlike Sandoval, they would rather prioritize their political opposition to the health reform law over the strategies that would benefit their poorest residents.

In addition to Nevada, 17 other states led by Democratic governors are planning to expand their Medicaid programs.

Of the least-insured metropolitan areas in the United States, seven of the top ten fall in states where the Governor has refused to accept the expansion of the Medicaid program offered up under Obamacare.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) have all said expressly that their states will not allow the expansion to take effect — despite the fact that it would offer afforable health care to citizens up to 133 percent of the poverty line who are currently uninsured and who often rely on the emergency room for their only care, racking up costs for taxpayers. But their states have some of the highest level of uninsured people overall, and are host to the least-insured American cities:

The expansion of Medicaid is actually beneficial to the states that implement it. Aside from the obvious benefit of helping more Americans stay healthy, it is projected to save states money by cutting down on the public expenses of unexpected hospital visits by sick uninsured people. And support for the expansion is wide; doctors and hospital officials believe it will hugely benefit them by taking away the burden of sudden urgent care.

The Governor of Nevada, Brian Sandoval (R), has not yet committed to expanding the Medicaid program in his state. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), on the other hand, has indicated his state will participate in the expansion.