Montana to Drop Medicaid Enrollees in October Under New Work Rules, Hitting Homeless People
Updated
Updated · Kaiser Health News · Aug 6
Montana to Drop Medicaid Enrollees in October Under New Work Rules, Hitting Homeless People
3 articles · Updated · Kaiser Health News · Aug 6
Summary
October is when Montana plans to start removing Medicaid recipients who cannot prove they are working, volunteering or in school, making it one of the first states to enforce the new federal rules.
Federal regulations finalized this spring bar states from treating homelessness as an automatic exemption, even though Montana had also wanted to excuse people fleeing domestic violence and caregivers of hospitalized relatives.
30 days is the window for people not automatically exempted to prove they are too sick to work, but Montana's system to check medical records automatically is still not ready and officials say it should be in place by October.
746,000 people were homeless nationwide last year after a 27% rise since 2013, and providers warn many eligible for exemptions may still lose coverage because unstable housing, lost documents and informal work make compliance hard.
More than 5 million additional people could become uninsured by 2034 under the work requirements, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while 25 mostly Democratic-led states are already suing to block the rules.
With automatic verification systems unready, how will vulnerable populations prove their medical exemptions before the strict 30-day cutoff?
As millions face potential disenrollment, what hidden administrative hurdles will ultimately determine who keeps their life-saving healthcare coverage?
Could the bureaucratic costs of enforcing these strict new healthcare rules actually outweigh the financial savings from reduced enrollment?