More Montanans lost Medicaid coverage this June amid the redetermination process
Austin Amestoy | Montana Public Radio
The number of Montanans who lost Medicaid coverage climbed again in June according to new data from the state department of health.
Regulators disenrolled more often than they continued coverage, ending health care benefits for more than 17,000 people. The state is still reviewing some renewal packets submitted this spring.
To date, more than 55,000 people have lost Medicaid in Montana as the state joins the rest of the country in reviewing eligibility for the program for the first time in three years. Nearly 48,000 Montanans have had their insurance renewed.
Officials declare Atlantic Richfield Company is to pay for Great Falls refinery cleanup
John Hooks | Montana Public Radio
State and federal officials filed an agreement Tuesday with the Atlantic Richfield Company to pay for a multimillion dollar cleanup of a former copper refinery in Great Falls.
The facility is located in the community of Black Eagle across the Missouri River. It refined copper and zinc from Butte’s mines from the 1890’s until the 1970’s, contaminating soils and groundwater with heavy metals including lead and arsenic.
Atlantic Richfield purchased the facility when they acquired the Anaconda Company in 1977. The proposed agreement will see to it that the company clean up contaminated soil and reimburse the EPA for past work at a cost of over $2 million. Cleanup will include residential yards in Black Eagle.
The consent decree still needs court approval and public comment on the proposed agreement is open for 30 days.
