Mary Caferro

Strange bedfellows are united behind proposed tax credits for middle to low-income families at the Montana Legislature. There are differing motivations behind the shared goal.

The state budget bill has cleared its first major hurdle in a process that now takes it to the full House for debate and amendments. The $18 billion budget advanced out of committee with a bipartisan vote of 19-4.

Threatened cuts to federal funding have Montana organizations anxious. The state Senate gears up for an ethics investigation. Medicaid expansion bills advance. The Democratic party is looking for a new leader. And state workers — and legislators — would get a pay raise under a proposed new pay plan.

Up to 75,000 Montanans will lose health care coverage if lawmakers don’t renew Medicaid expansion. There are competing visions to make the program permanent and some who want to end it.

State officials are negotiating a contract to run job-training services for low-income Montanans with a Virginia-based company.

Enrollment for Montana’s health insurance marketplace is open until January 15. Insurance providers are seeing a surge in enrollment after more than 100,000 Montanans were removed from Medicaid this year. And the feds urge action after an 18% drop in Medicaid coverage of kids in the state.

We’re on day 55 of the 90-day session. This week we’re talking about health care funding, childcare initiatives and vaccine bills.This is The Session, a look at the policy and politics inside the Montana statehouse.

After a study found the state underpays Montana Medicaid providers by tens of millions of dollars, lawmakers have advanced a proposal to fully fund the gap.

More nursing home closures are on the horizon as their financial struggles continue. But lawmakers are trying to reduce that risk through measures that would raise and set standards for the Medicaid reimbursement rates that nursing homes depend on for their operations.

Patient injuries, abuse, and neglect have continued at the Montana State Hospital since the state-run psychiatric facility lost its federal certification due to preventable patient deaths. But state officials won’t release details, citing laws making those reports confidential.