KFF

The number of Montanans enrolled in federally subsidized health insurance plans over the past four years increased by about 50%, or about 22,000 people. The growth is attributed to enhanced subsidies during the pandemic. But those are set to expire at the end of next year. This fall’s election could impact whether they’re renewed.

About two-thirds of those who were kicked off state Medicaid rolls lost it for technical reasons like incorrectly filling out paperwork. That’s one of the highest procedural disenrollment rates nationwide, according to an analysis.

Most nursing home staff and residents in Montana aren’t up-to-date on their COVID vaccines, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report.

In recent years Montana has seen one of the largest increases in suicides nationwide.

More than 15,000 Montanans lost Medicaid coverage in April and that number will continue to grow as the state continues to reevaluate program eligibility.

The four states bordering Montana have “trigger laws” in effect or pending now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ended federal protections for abortion, making conservative Big Sky Country an unlikely haven for women seeking to end their pregnancies. But Montana’s potential to become an abortion refuge has been diminished by the operator of three of the state’s five clinics, which are preemptively limiting who can receive abortion pills.

Since Native American tribes are sovereign nations, with their own laws, could they offer abortion services on Native land within states that may soon outlaw abortion? And would they?

A bipartisan U.S. Senate agreement negotiated after high-profile mass shootings in Texas, New York, and Oklahoma lacks gun access restrictions that advocates say are needed to prevent such attacks. But the deal’s focus on mental health has raised hopes — and doubts — that it will help reduce gun suicides, particularly in rural Western states with wide-open gun laws.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration greenlighted both Moderna and Pfizer’s shots for young children today and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to follow suit this weekend.

Montana state health department spokesperson Jon Ebelt says the state is ordering vaccines in anticipation of the approval, but didn’t say how many. He says providers could receive the vaccines by June 21, which is the earliest they could be administered following approval.