The Montana Primary Care Association is launching a program to help people who lost Medicaid during the state’s evaluation process reapply.
The Montana Primary Care Association will train public service providers like food banks to help the roughly 130,000 Montanans that lost Medicaid during the last year.
The state recently finished evaluating the eligibility of everyone on its Medicaid rolls. That process was on hold during the pandemic.
Olivia Riutta with the Primary Care Association said the process of reapplying can be confusing and there are many people who are still eligible or lost coverage for procedural reasons.
“We are working to increase the capacity across the state so that people who have lost Medicaid or Healthy Montana Kids can reapply for coverage as quickly as possible,” Riutta said.
Riutta is encouraging organizations that can’t directly help people re-apply to refer them to the Primary Care Association's Cover Montana program. That program provides remote and in-person help to people applying for Medicaid or buying insurance on the federal marketplace.
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As of July 1, Montanans on certain Medicaid programs will be required to work or volunteer 80 hours every month or file for an exemption. The state is among the first in the country to roll out work requirements under a federal law passed last year. But, officials haven't finished setting up everything they need to implement the new rules. -
Gov. Greg Gianforte and state health officials have agreed to withhold a pay bump for Medicaid providers. The move will resolve a budget shortfall for the public health insurance program. -
Federal officials released the final rules for Medicaid requirements this week. Hiding among the nearly 400 pages of regulations is a significant change that could make it harder for Montanans to stay on the public health insurance program. -
Montana’s top law enforcement officer joined Vice President J.D. Vance for an anti-fraud roundtable this week. President Donald Trump earlier this year declared what he called a “full-scale war” on fraud in public benefit programs like Medicaid and nutrition assistance. -
A lawsuit argues the state’s process for redetermining Medicaid eligibility after the pandemic was intentionally devised to kick as many Montanans off the program as possible. Both state and third-party analysis found a large portion of the people unenrolled still qualified.
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Some state Medicaid services are on the chopping block due to a budget shortfall. The state health department estimates it will need at least another $7 million, but isn’t saying what services might be cut.
