Governor Gianforte Just Kicked 13,748 Montana Children Off of Their Health Insurance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 26th, 2023

CONTACT
hadley@montanademocrats.org

40% of the Montanans Recently Disenrolled from Medicaid are Children
 

Helena, MT – According to the latest update from Governor Greg Gianforte’s purge of Montana Medicaid, 13,748 children have been kicked off their health insurance. Thanks to a redetermination process riddled with burdensome red tape requirements, the latest update from the Governor’s Department of Public Health and Human Services brings the total number of Montanans who have been kicked off Medicaid to 34,204. A stunning 40% of Montanans recently kicked off are under the age of 18. 

House and Senate Democratic Leadership sent a letter yesterday to the Governor, asking Gianforte to pause the redetermination process until his administration can cut the unnecessary red tape requirements that account for two-thirds of the Montanans deemed ineligible.

“13,748 Montana children have just been kicked off their health insurance, all thanks to Governor Gianforte. This is cruel beyond measure,” said Sheila Hogan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party. “Montana Republicans have made it crystal clear they have no interest in supporting Montana’s working families.” 

BACKGROUND: 

Starting in April, Governor Greg Gianforte’s administration began to redetermine the eligibility of every Montanan covered by Medicaid. However, the state notified Montanans about whether or not their health care coverage had been ended by mail only. 
Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services recently released their May 2023 Medicaid disenrollment statistics, and the results are shocking. 34,200 Montanans have been cut from Montana Medicaid – of those, 21,984 Montanans have been kicked off their insurance simply because they didn’t complete the state’s 19-page mailed application in time, or other similar bureaucratic reasons. Another 1,338 had their insurance yanked because DPPHS mailed the paperwork to the wrong address.

Lower-income families are twice as likely as their wealthy counterparts to “experience frequent moves," according to a 2015 study.

A quarter of all Montanans get their health insurance through Montana Medicaid and Health Montana Kids. 96% of Montana Medicaid members are employed or caring for themselves or a loved one. 

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