Montana to Lose $4.8 Billion in Federal Funding for Medicaid Under the American Health Care Act.

Bozeman, Mont. (June 13, 2017) – An independent analysis commissioned by the Montana Healthcare Foundation projects that if the current health care bill in Congress – the American Health Care Act (AHCA)— is enacted, Montana’s Medicaid program would lose $4.8 billion in federal funding, and more than 70,000 adults enrolled through the recent Medicaid expansion would lose coverage by 2026. The analysis, conducted by Manatt Health, takes an in-depth look at the U.S. House-passed AHCA and its impact on both health care coverage and the state budget. Although leadership in the U.S. Senate is crafting its own legislation, current options being considered still include core features of the AHCA, including capped funding for Medicaid and the elimination of Medicaid expansion funding.

These cuts would hurt Montana’s most vulnerable residents, including children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Furthermore, they would weaken the state’s healthcare system, threaten the viability of our rural hospitals, and put our state’s balanced budget at risk.

Dr. Aaron Wernham,
Montana Healthcare Foundation CEO 

Key findings of the report include:

• A loss of the recent Medicaid expansion, which currently covers over 75,000 Montanans and provides over $500 million per year in federal funding.
• A major impact on the state budget includes:
  • Loss of $4.8 billion in federal Medicaid funds from 2020 through 2026, which is more than a third of Montana’s federal Medicaid funding.
  • Ripple effects would potentially affect other state priorities, such as education and infrastructure.
  • Marked year-to-year volatility in health care funding, creating uncertainty in state and private-sector budget decisions.
• A cap on federal financial support for the Montana Medicaid program makes it harder to respond to crises such as an epidemic or recession. It leaves the state with no federal partnership in the case of an emergency.
• Montana would need to respond to the federal cuts by curtailing spending through cutting eligibility, reducing reimbursement rates, eliminating benefits, or otherwise reducing spending for the children, seniors, people with disabilities, and adults who remain in coverage.

Montana Healthcare Foundation contracted with nationally recognized experts from Manatt Health to analyze the impact of the AHCA on Montana.

This analysis of Montana impacts makes clear that per capita caps are really just cuts by another name. Montana stands ready to lose a staggering $4.8 billion in federal funding by 2026.

Deborah Bachrach,
Manatt Health Partner and Report Co-Author

Read the full report, “Impact on Montana of the ACA’s Medicaid Provisions.”