Mary Caferro

Montana lawmakers take their oaths of office and begin their work in the state Capitol. Host Nadya Faulx and reporters Shaylee Ragar, Ellis Juhlin, and Arren Kimbel-Sannit discuss a rules debate that's dividing the GOP, how moderate Republicans are working with Democrats, a new Montana Freedom Caucus, and the beginnings of the state budget.

Lawmakers in several conservative-led states — including Montana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Mississippi — are expected to consider proposals to provide a year of continuous health coverage to new mothers enrolled in Medicaid.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in February warned the state it could lose funding after they found that the Montana State Hospital didn’t have measures in place to prevent COVID-19 infections and serious falls among patients, which led to four deaths.

Providing a mental health service for high-needs students has become more complicated for Montana’s school districts. Some are opting for other services that advocates and mental-health providers say are inadequate.

A proposal to create a politically appointed panel to decide who gets Medicaid coverage for abortions was met with bipartisan pushback last session. Republican lawmakers compromised and changed the proposal to a study of the issue over the next two years instead.

Federal health officials will likely reject Montana’s request to include work requirements for beneficiaries of its Medicaid expansion program, which insures 100,000 low-income Montana adults, state officials said.

Montana lawmakers voted Thursday to give 14,000 women, children and infants receiving public food assistance a boost in benefits this summer. The money is…

Montana lawmakers have advanced a proposal to allocate money for the creation of a politically-appointed panel that would decide which patients can…

Montana lawmakers added $1 billion back into a preliminary outline of the state health department’s biennial budget. The lawmakers overseeing state health…

State health department officials gave legislators an update Monday on the agency’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials say that response…