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The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson prompted both grief and public outrage about the ways insurers deny treatment. Republicans and Democrats agree prior authorization needs fixing, but patients are growing impatient.
A bill designed to force PBMs to pay higher fees to independent drugstores sailed through the state House, but lobbyists are marshaling their forces to kill the measure in the Senate.
Bills before the legislature would license community health workers and make it easier for some other health professionals licensed in other states to do business in Montana.
As Congress mulls significant cuts to Medicaid, Native American tribes are bracing for potentially devastating financial fallout. That’s because Medicaid is the largest third-party payer for Native American health programs, funding that has helped address chronic underfunding of the Indian Health Service.
A bill proposed by kratom industry advocates is prompting consideration — and some concern — in the Montana Legislature.
Republicans have proposed legislation in several states to ban the pioneering technology used in covid shots. Many doctors worry a huge medical advance could be rolled back.
State lawmakers appear ready to preserve the state’s Medicaid expansion program without knowing what federal changes might be in store.
Congressional Republicans are pushing plans that could make deep cuts to Medicaid to finance President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and other priorities. At stake is coverage for millions of low-income Americans, as well as a huge revenue source for hospitals — and every state.
As Republicans consider adding work requirements to Medicaid, Georgia and Arkansas — two states with experience running such programs — want to scale back the key parts supporters have argued encourage employment and personal responsibility.
Patients and providers say health insurers’ preapproval requirements lead to delays and denials of needed medical treatments. Insurers argue that prior authorization keeps costs down.
The Montana health department says the Board of Public Assistance is redundant and a bureaucratic hurdle that helps few people. Current and former board representatives say the rare cases in which the panel helps people are important.
Unsure how to help the troubled psychiatric facility, legislators look to shore up other parts of the state’s mental health system.
The moves under consideration include relocating a residential facility for people with developmental disabilities, renovating the state’s psychiatric hospital, and opening a new unit of the hospital in Helena.
Health leaders say a tool to boost medical coverage for Native Americans, a population that has long faced worse health outcomes than the rest of the nation, has been underused by many states and tribes since it was written into the Affordable Care Act more than a decade ago.
To deliver on pledges from the new Trump administration to make America healthy again, policymakers will need to close gaps in longevity among racial and ethnic groups.
The number of unhoused seniors in the U.S. is expected to triple by 2030. About half of this population is becoming homeless for the first time. Homeless services struggle to help. Finding affordable housing that’s also accessible for older Americans with medical conditions is an extra challenge.
Though abortion rights supporters prevailed on ballot measures in seven of the 10 states where abortion was up for a vote on Nov. 5, the state supreme courts voters have elected indicate legal fights to come aren’t clear-cut.
More medical schools say they will no longer charge tuition, in hopes that more students, graduating free of debt, will choose lower-paying primary care careers. But evidence suggests it will take a lot more than a free ride to replenish the primary care pipeline.
Legislative leaders say the decision whether to renew Montana’s Medicaid expansion program this year will loom over behavioral health spending and hospital regulation, among other topics.
After rival hospitals in Terre Haute scuttled plans to merge, a state senator has introduced a bill to forbid similar mergers by repealing a state law he helped write.
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