“We have a very aggressive plan to get to where we are by 2013,” said Mary Dalton, director of Medicaid Services for the state.
Montana voters last November approved Initiative 155, which expands the eligibility for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program in Montana. The programs provide free health insurance for children in low- and moderate-income families.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer has included some $20 million a year for the program in his proposed state budget for the next two years and asked for as many as 60 new state employees to administer the expansion.
Some of the state’s top health officials appeared Friday before the legislative budget panel that will make initial decisions on funding and designing the expansion.
Hank Hudson, director of Economic Security Services for the Department of Public Health and Human Services, said the goal is to make it easier for eligible people to sign up their kids for health coverage under the expanded program, which is known as Healthy Montana Kids. But working out the details and the funding won’t be easy, he said.
“While it’s a huge challenge, it’s our expectation that it will be there,” he said.
Both Medicaid and CHIP are funded with state and federal funds, with the feds providing anywhere from two-thirds to three-fourths of the money. Before the state can make final decisions on its funding, it needs to know what Congress will do on the federal end, Dalton said.
The two programs were covering about 64,000 kids as of last month.
Rep. Chuck Hunter, D-Helena, a former state health official, is carrying a bill to help implement the program.
“I want to see this program get up and running as soon as we can get it up and running,” he told the panel Friday.
For more information, read Saturday's Missoulian or go to Missoulian.com.
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