Democratic lawmakers, including Helena Rep. Mary Caferro, asked the state health department director if he would consider pausing reviewing Medicaid eligibility. Caferro said the move would allow department employees time to catch up on a backlog of case reviews and new Medicaid applications.
Director Charlie Brereton said he would not. “I’m confident in our redetermination process,” Brereton said. “I do believe that many of the Medicaid members who’ve been disenrolled were disenrolled correctly.”
The comment came during an interim legislative committee meeting this week.
More than 100,000 Montanans have lost coverage since the start of the year; nearly two-thirds of those because the department says it didn’t have enough information to assess their eligibility for the program.
Brereton said he believes the high number of disenrollments are due to the state’s “strong” economy. He cited low unemployment and inflation-driven wage increases as reasons people may have exceeded Medicaid’s eligibility threshold.
Montana is nearly complete with its 10-month process to review existing enrollees’ eligibility.
The federal agency that oversees Medicaid called out Montana earlier this year for making it difficult for residents to keep or apply for coverage. Brereton said wait times have decreased at the agency's public assistance helpline this fall.
