Zephyr warns federal Medicaid rollbacks could force Montana to tap $2 billion trust and cut coverage

Representative Zoe Zephyr said proposed federal reductions to Medicaid funding and program changes would likely push costs onto states and could force Montana to draw down a $2 billion growth and opportunity trust the Legislature set aside this session.

"If the rug's pulled out, that $2,000,000,000 is a place that we would have to turn to," Zephyr said, describing the trust as a fund lawmakers had placed aside with broad goals including housing and pensions. She said the trust could be repurposed to cover immediate shortfalls in health programs if federal funding is reduced.

Zephyr said the impact on Montanans could be large: she estimated roughly 50,000 people could lose access to health care through bureaucratic disruption if Medicaid requirements were transferred to states without sufficient planning and funding. "You're gonna see at least 50,000 people would be my estimate, who are going to just through the sheer bureaucracy of the process lose access to their health care," she said.

Zephyr urged constituents to contact U.S. House members to oppose federal changes and to press state lawmakers to fight cuts. She recommended constituents "make phone calls, make it hell" for members who might support the federal changes and argued the measure previously passed by a single vote in a congressional context and could be killed again with pressure.

Why it matters: Zephyr said Medicaid and SNAP cuts would not follow party lines in their impact because rural hospitals, businesses and patients across political identities rely on the programs. She framed the issue as one of state fiscal contingency and health access.

The remarks came during audience Q&A at a Western Montana DSA event where Zephyr discussed state and federal interactions on health funding and the need for legal and political responses.