93,000 Montanans Lost Medicaid Coverage During COVID

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - 93,000 Montanans were removed from Medicaid coverage following the COVID pandemic, however, the 2024 Open Enrollment period for health insurance is now underway.

KGVO News spoke to Olivia Riuta, Director of Population Health with the Montana Primary Care Association, in addition to being Director of Cover Montana for information to help those seeking health care insurance coverage.

After COVID 93,000 Montanans Lost their Medicaid Coverage

“Open enrollment is the annual opportunity for folks to shop around for health insurance coverage,” began Riuta. “For a lot of Montanans, how they get their health insurance coverage has kind of shifted, especially in the last six months, and so now is the time for folks who don't have health insurance to really stop and take a minute to apply, see what they qualify for and hopefully enroll in a plan for 2024.”

Riuta said over 90,000 Montanan have already lost their health care coverage and need to apply or reapply during open enrollment.

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Montanans can Apply or Reapply during Open Enrollment

“There are over 320,000 Montanans, everybody from kids to folks who are pregnant to adults to folks who might be enrolled in Medicaid because they're in senior long-term care,” she said. “These are folks from all over the state and all walks of life. The state has been kind of going through and reassessing eligibility for everybody, and because of that there are over 90,000 Montanans who have already lost (health insurance) coverage.”

Riuta encourages every Montanan, for themselves or their family members, to visit the Cover MT website to make sure they are covered by health insurance.

Visit Covermt.org to get Details on Affordable Health Care Insurance

“We really encourage folks, even if they have looked at it before, maybe even a handful of years ago, you can take literally one minute and fill out a calculator to get a sense of what you might qualify for,” she said. “Plans and prices change every year, so take a minute, see what you might qualify for, and just make sure that you have information about what you qualify for, for this upcoming plan year, because everything is always changing, and plans are more affordable than they have been in the past.”

Click here for details on the Montana Primary Care Association.