The Trump administration is cutting funding for insurance navigator programs by 90% at the end of August.
Cover Montana used to have 18 staffers to meet Montanans in person or talk over the phone. They helped sort through public insurance options or fill out Medicaid paperwork.
Now they will have two people who will only take phone calls.
“We anticipate that we will receive more calls than we have the capacity to help,” says Olivia Riutta with Cover Montana.
Riutta’s team says it will tell people who can’t get through to call the federal helpline for marketplace plans or go to a state Medicaid office.
Cover Montana’s support services are dwindling right as federal subsidies for marketplace plans are discontinued.
There are also big changes to Medicaid on the horizon. Medicaid enrollees will meet new work requirements. They’ll also have to prove they’re eligible more often than now.
Riutta worries that without her team’s support, many people will be confused by those changes and lose coverage.
