The deadline to buy health insurance at HealthCare.gov was Sunday, and a lot more people in Montana did that this year than did last year.
“It’s encouraging to us that more than 54,000 Montanans went to HealthCare.gov to purchase their health insurance,” said Jesse Laslovich, chief legal counsel for Montana’s insurance commissioner.
A conservative group of Republican lawmakers unveiled their plans to address healthcare in Montana that don’t involve Medicaid expansion. It’ s dubbed “Big Sky Health.” The package contains just over 20 bills.
This is the last week for Montanans to shop for health insurance on HealthCare.gov. The deadline is Sunday, February 15. And it’s a hard deadline, says Jeff Hinson, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"They will not be able to enroll after the 15th, unless they have a life-changing event."
A life-changing event is something like leaving a job with insurance benefits, getting married or divorced, or having child.
Just over 40 percent of the patients who get care at Teton Medical Center in Choteau are uninsured and can’t pay their medical bills. That’s the message the hospital’s CEO gave to Governor Steve Bullock Thursday afternoon.
Teton Medical Center is one of the state’s Critical Access Hospitals. It has ten hospital beds, just over three dozen nursing home beds, and an emergency room.
