Montana
Organizations request Montana health department investment following Medicaid redetermination • Idaho Capital Sun
Thousands of Montanans lost Medicaid coverage, not because they weren’t eligible, but due to “unapproachable and unmanageable” administrative barriers at the state health department.
That’s according to a letter signed by 66 national and state organizations sent to Gov. Greg Gianforte last week asking him to include money to add additional staff to the Department of Public Health and Human Services and update outdated software, among other requests, in his budget proposal for the 2027 biennium.
The Medicaid redetermination process took place following a freeze on disenrollments during the Covid-19 pandemic, and took a total 135,000 enrollees off of Medicaid. The state’s redetermination dashboard cites the most frequent reason for disenrolling as a lack of correspondence with the department. Many former enrollees who may still be eligible now have to apply for Medicaid again for health coverage, with longer-than-usual wait times and Medicaid providers struggling to make ends meet as applications are processed.
Health department in preliminary budget planning
The letter suggested consumer advisory groups, focus groups, surveys, and end-user testing to improve the state’s communication with clients – and said health department staffers should use plain language with clients to help reduce delays.
The state health department previously told the Daily Montanan it meets all federal standards for processing both redeterminations and new applications. Spokesperson for the department Jon Ebelt said Monday it is taking the requests in the letter under consideration in its budget planning.
“The letter makes specific budget requests, and at this time, DPHHS is in the preliminary stages of the executive budget planning process for the upcoming legislative session,” Ebelt said in a statement. “DPHHS appreciates the feedback and suggestions included in the letter and will consider them.”
The letter was addressed to Gianforte, but the Governor’s Office on Monday deferred to DPHHS in response to questions. DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton, as well as Human Services Executive Director Jessie Counts, Medicaid Chief Financial Manager Gene Hermanson and Director of Budget and Program Planning Ryan Osmundson were copied on the letter as well.
Jackie Semmens with the Montana Budget and Policy Center, told legislators Thursday the organizations who signed onto the letter included food pantries, healthcare providers and faith organizations – places people turn to when they “can’t get the benefits they qualify for in a timely manner.”
“These organizations see people coming to food pantries when they are forced to choose between paying out of pocket for prescription or feeding their family because their Medicaid determination is delayed,” Semmens said. “These 60 plus organizations have seen firsthand how strapped the department has been during the past year, which is why they have joined together to ask the governor to improve access to public assistance.”
Organizations include the Montana Food Bank Network, the Fort Peck Tribal Health Department, Montana Head Start Association and the American Heart Association.
The letter, sent June 17, said the health department cuts made in 2017 led to 19 public assistance offices across the state to close and resulted in pressure on the staff that was left.
Medicaid unwinding exacerbated these existing issues, the letter said, and “highlighted the ways in which Montana’s safety net is outdated, inaccessible, and cumbersome for those most in need.” The organizations asked that as the governor’s administration develops its 2027 biennial budget, they invest and modernize access to Montana’s safety net services.
Prior to each legislative session, the governor releases a budget with proposals for spending for the upcoming two fiscal years. The legislature ultimately has the power to appropriate funds, but the budget is a public statement of the investments the executive office wishes to make and approve. The legislature will meet again in January 2025.
Letter: state website is hard to navigate, more in-person assistance options needed
The organizations want to see more options for in-person assistance, which could include the reopening of rural public assistance offices. Applications completed in person are less likely to contain errors, the letter said, and would reduce procedural delays.
“In-person assistance is an essential lifeline for elderly, disabled, and rural individuals,” the organizations said.
The state health department’s website to apply for safety net services like Medicaid or food assistance is hard to navigate, the letter said, and during the unwinding process, phone lines were jammed with people having to wait hours to speak to someone. The organizations believe the solution to the problems is better staffing at the department, although their letter did not specify how many more employees they believe are needed.
“With rural Montanans relying on these means of application, Montana should make significant investments to improve their functionality,” the letter read.
The letter said understaffing was what led to procedural delays during the Medicaid unwinding. Ebelt previously listed limited staff as one reason for Medicaid delays, along with prioritization for individuals with current inactive coverage as well as verifying previously unreported resources. He said the state meets the federal standard of paying 90 percent of “clean claims” (claims not needing additional verification) within 30 days, and 99 percent of “clean claims” in 90 days.
About 9% of cases are still pending eligibility, Counts told legislators, translating to a little under 20,000 cases.
Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: [email protected]. Follow Daily Montanan on Facebook and X.
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Montana
The gunshot story from Montana’s Tim Sheehy gets even more ‘confusing’
Control of the U.S. Senate might very well come down to the race in Montana, where Sen. Jon Tester is facing a tough challenge from Republican Tim Sheehy. The bad news for the Democratic incumbent is that recent polling leaves little doubt that he’s the underdog, but the good news for Tester is that the GOP has nominated a rival with an unfortunate record.
As regular readers know, Sheehy, for example, has used racist rhetoric when talking about Native Americans — which is indefensible under any circumstances, and which is especially foolish in a state with a sizable Native population. He has also accused women who support abortion rights of having been “indoctrinated.” Sheehy has also been accused of plagiarism, doctoring footage in a campaign commercial, disparaging firefighters, flubbing the basics of the impeachment process, having a controversial lobbying background, and exaggerating his successes in the private sector.
In case that weren’t quite enough, the candidate wrote in his book that he was discharged from the military for medical reasons, but NBC News reported last month that the discharge paperwork indicates that he resigned voluntarily and it does not list any medical condition that forced him out.
But most important is the question of how and when Sheehy was shot. NBC News reported over the weekend:
Montana’s Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy struggled in a new interview to give a clear explanation about the circumstances surrounding a 2015 incident in a national park that led to his treatment for a gunshot wound and receipt of a fine. In the interview with radio host and former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, which was posted online Thursday, Sheehy left Kelly confused, and she warned him that the voters in Montana were unclear about what happened.
The conservative host told the Senate hopeful that his version of events is “so confusing,” and it was a rare instance in which I found myself in agreement with Kelly.
Let’s circle back to our recent coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
The Republican candidate, a retired Navy SEAL, has told Montana voters that he has a bullet stuck in his right forearm “from Afghanistan.” It’s the sort of claim that signals to the public that Sheehy wants to be seen as tough, while simultaneously reminding people about his military service.
And while it certainly appears that there’s a bullet lodged in Sheehy’s right forearm, there’s reason to be skeptical about how it got there.
The Washington Post reported back in April that Sheehy visited Montana’s Glacier National Park in 2015, at which point he told a National Park Service ranger that he accidentally shot himself when his Colt .45 revolver fell and discharged while he was loading his vehicle in the park. Soon after, the Post’s article added, a ranger cited Sheehy for allegedly discharging his weapon in a national park illegally, relying on the Republican’s version of events, and the relevant reports were filed.
More recently, however, Sheehy told the Post that he lied to the National Park Service ranger and that he was actually shot while serving in Afghanistan.
The ranger who interacted with the future Senate candidate, Kim Peach, isn’t buying it. In fact, Peach told The New York Times that he remembers seeing Sheehy at the hospital in 2015 “with a bandage on his arm,” presumably because he’d just accidentally shot himself.
The article added, “Because it is illegal to discharge a firearm in a national park, Mr. Peach said, he and Mr. Sheehy went out to Mr. Sheehy’s vehicle, where Mr. Peach temporarily confiscated the gun and unloaded it, finding five live rounds and the casing of one that had been fired.”
The Times also spoke with one of Sheehy’s former SEAL colleagues, Dave Madden, who recalled swapping war stories with the Montanan about their experiences, and Sheehy never said anything about having been shot.
“Mr. Madden said he was surprised when Mr. Sheehy began talking more recently about having been shot that spring in Afghanistan, and that he became convinced that Mr. Sheehy had invented the story,” the article added.
The question isn’t whether Sheehy lied. The question is when and to whom he lied.
To be sure, the GOP candidate remains adamant that he was shot in Afghanistan and lied about the park incident to protect his former platoonmates from facing a potential investigation.
As Sheehy has explained it, he believed that if he’d told the truth in 2015, it might’ve been reported to the Navy, prompting questions about whether the wound was the result of friendly fire or from enemy ammunition. But the Post reported that it would’ve been “highly unlikely that a civilian hospital would report a years-old bullet wound to the Navy.”
In theory, the candidate could release the relevant medical records and put the matter to rest. In practice, Sheehy now says there are no such medical records.
No wonder Kelly found all of this “so confusing.”
As for the significance of this, Sheehy doesn’t have much of a record to fall back on, so if he lied about getting shot in Afghanistan, it does dramatic harm to one of the key pillars of his entire candidacy. Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Montana
Good Morning, Montana (Monday, November 4, 2024)
Wishing everyone a good day! Here are some things to know for today:
WEATHER: Increasing clouds. Wind will increase throughout the morning, with gusts of 40-50mph across north central Montana this afternoon and evening. Scattered rain and snow showers during the evening. High temps in the upper 40 and low to mid 50s.
Suspect shot after stabbing a police officer in Helena. Click here.
Great Falls tattoo shop faces backlash. Click here.
New law requires Montana counties to tally votes throughout the night. Click here.
COMING UP:
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 8: A fundraiser to benefit the Miller family as they navigate the diagnosis of a brain tumor in their youngest, little Ms. Jewel Miller. Event runs from 5pm to 8pm at the Highwood Community Hall. There will be music by The Lucky Valentines, food and fun, as well as a live and silent auction. Dinner served at 5-6. Auction from 6-7 with live music to follow. For more information, call Jenna Baum at 406-733-6062.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 8: There will be free Developmental Health Screenings for Children (birth – age 5) at the Children’s Museum of Montana (22 Railroad Square) in Great Falls. Event is from 9am to 1pm. Developmental Screeners, Hearing Checks, Dental Health Checks, Vision Checks, and more. Sponsored by Benchmark Human Services, Great Falls Public Schools, Montana School for the Deaf & Blind, Alluvion Dental, Lions Club. To reserve a spot, call 406-268-6400; walk-ins are also welcome. For more information, call Barb Walden at 406-403-0087.
Here is today’s joke of the day! Share with your friends: Why did the strawberry cry? He found himself in a jam!
Email your best joke to montanathismorning@krtv.com
For Behind The Scenes, Follow Montana This Morning on Instagram – click here!
Montana
Democrats Say Montana’s Senate Race Has Gotten Closer
Democrats are growing more optimistic about Sen. Jon Tester’s reelection chances in Montana in the campaign’s final days, according to party strategists, hopeful that a late surge of support for the senator has at least put him within striking distance of Republican nominee Tim Sheehy.
After bottoming out at the end of summer, Tester’s poll numbers have bounced back in recent weeks, according to one Democratic strategist familiar with the race, who, like others interviewed for this story, emphasized that the three-term senator’s hold on the Senate seat remains precarious. But his support has grown enough that allies think the incumbent — long considered the Democratic senator most likely to lose his reelection — has at least now moved within a poll’s margin of error.
“I would say flip a coin, and then call it heads or tails before it hits your hand,” said former Democratic Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer. “And that’s how this thing is going to end.”
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