House and Senate GOP Health Bills Endanger Healthy Montana Kids Program

MBPC Staff | July 2017 | Presented by the Montana Budget & Policy Center

Healthy Montana Kids (HMK) provides vital health care coverage to more than one in three children in Montana. HMK, which includes both children’s Medicaid and the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), not only improves the health of children, it also has lifelong impacts on recipients’ physical and financial well-being.

The Senate GOP proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), called the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), would cut Medicaid by nearly $800 billion over ten years. By capping the amount of money states get from the federal government, this bill would shift significant costs to the states, forcing them to cut services and potentially the number of individuals covered. This report provides an overview of HMK and details the risk to HMK if the BCRA passes.

Some of the key facts and figures from the report include:

• Over 120,000 (more than 1 in 3) children in Montana are covered through HMK.
• Half of all births in Montana are covered through HMK.
• Ninety-two percent of all Montana children have insurance, in large part due to HMK.
• Roughly half of all Medicaid enrollees in Montana are children.
• Schools in Montana receive $55 million in Medicaid funds - $36 million of which is federal.
• Medicaid covers 100% of children in foster care, 71% of children living in poverty, and 50% of children with disabilities.
• Under the original Senate bill, Montana would lose $5.3 billion in federal Medicaid funds, putting at risk Health Montana Kids and access to coverage for thousands of Montanans.

Here is the full report: House and Senate GOP Health Bills Endanger Healthy Montana Kids Program.