Montana Democrats Highlight Devastating Impacts of Gianforte’s Health Care Crisis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
CONTACT
gaby@montanademocrats.org
Helena, MT – Today, Montanans slammed Governor Gianforte as tens of thousands of children, Native Americans, and seniors remain without health care coverage thanks to his mass disenrollment debacle. This press event follows persistent demands from Democratic lawmakers to the DPHHS to release more details on the 132,697 Montanans who have lost their health insurance under Montana Medicaid and Healthy Montana Kids.
Governor candidate Ryan Busse and candidate for Lieutenant Governor Raph Graybill, Senate Democratic Leader Pat Flowers (D-Belgrade), and House Democratic Leader Kim Abbott (D-Helena) were joined in the Montana State Capitol by medical professionals and hardworking Montanans who shared their personal stories of Gianforte’s red tape nightmare.
“When kids lose health insurance they can die, or they can have very serious consequences,” said Kristin Melli, pediatric nurse practitioner serving the Fort Peck Reservation. “For someone who is already battling so many barriers to get the health care they need, this was one unnecessary battle that they had to fight to get the treatment that they needed for their condition.” [download video clip here]
“My usual patient visit always ends with me gently reminding the parents that their Medicaid is inactive. I ask what they have done about it, they state that they’ve called OPA, they’ve been on hold for many hours, if they leave a message, many times no one calls them back,” said Teresa Augustine, MD, with Helena Pediatric Clinic, who says 50% of her patients rely on Medicaid. “So then I tell them to physically go to OPA offices with their fussy infants and rambunctious toddlers to sort it out. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. And we stumble along.” [download video clip here]
“The suspense of waiting, no communication and inability to ask questions is difficult to accept when it involves your health,” said Megan Martin, a veteran, mother and small business owner who has been waiting for weeks for her Medicaid application to be processed. “In the midst of all of this, I discovered they were still working on applications from November of 2023.” [download video clip here]
“These are just a few stories out of thousands, but each of these stories tells us very clearly: Governor Gianforte’s health care policy is a complete failure for Montanans,” said Senate Democratic Leader Pat Flowers. [download video clip here]
New data shows the burden of Gianforte and the DPHHS's administrative failures is falling hardest on children, Native Americans, and seniors. A recent report shows 35,797 children, 12,781 Native Americans and 7,606 seniors lost their health insurance in the last year.
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