Tribal leaders tell Montana budget panel Medicaid expansion must be preserved to sustain tribal health services

Tribal leaders, tribal health directors and urban Indian health providers told the Health and Human Services Joint Appropriations Subcommittee, Section B, on Jan. 20 in Helena that Montana’s Medicaid expansion is central to delivering preventive care, behavioral health and specialty services across reservations and in urban Indian clinics.

“For some, this absolutely is about life or death,” said Jennifer Finley, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ (CSKT) Tribal Council, during testimony to the committee.

The testimony outlined financial and clinical impacts that tribes say have flowed from Medicaid expansion and warned of sharp reversals if the Legislature lets the expansion sunset. Speakers asked the committee to lift the sunset in the governor’s HB 2 (Schedule B), restore a DPHHS tribal-relations coordinator position and direct the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) to evaluate the effects of Medicaid redetermination on tribal communities.

Tribal health leaders and urban Indian organizations gave multiple examples of services supported or expanded by third‑party revenue and Medicaid reimbursement. Joel Rosette, CEO of Rocky Boy Health Center, and others described growth in primary care, integrated behavioral health, dental and transportation services that they attribute to Medicaid expansion and third‑party billing. Dr. Natalie Weekes O’Neil, director of Fort Peck’s Health Promotion and…