Montana health insurance

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status report:
Montana state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Montana state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Montana officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (1)

• Dennis Rehberg

how healthy is living in Montana?

Montana is ranked as the 25th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation, up one spot from its 26th place position in 2009.

The good news:

• Montana was praised in 2010 for its low levels of infectious disease, low percentage of deaths due to cardiovascular disease, and a moderately low air pollution level relative to other states.
• In the past five to 10 years, the state has seen a decrease in infant mortality as well as prevalence of smoking within the population.
• Public funding increased last year from $76 per person to $94 per person.

The bad news:

• Montana ranks 47th for all of the following categories: high rate of occupational fatalities (8.9 deaths per 100,000 workers); low rate of immunization coverage for infants between the ages of 19 and 35 months (85.4 percent); and geographic disparity (18.6 percent).
• Violent crime has seen an increase in Montana since 1990 from 139 to 254 offenses per 100,000 members of the population.

Montana's best and worst category rankings:

• Infectious disease – 2nd
• Prevalence of obesity (23.7 percent) – 7th
• Deaths due to cardiovascular disease – 9th
• Occupational fatalities – 47th
• Immunization coverage – 47th
• Geographic disparity – 47th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Montana.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Montana health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Montana here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Montana, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does Montana have a health insurance high risk pool?

Montana Comprehensive Health Association
Toll-free 1-800-447-7828

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Montana started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Montana's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find health insurance in Montana

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Montana and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Montana.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Montana health insurance guide

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Montana.

Health insurance plan report cards for Montana

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Montana health insurance plan report cards.

Montana government health insurance resources

Montana Medicaid Provider Information – assisting low-income individuals and families.

Montana's CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Plan) – CHIP is a low-cost, private health insurance plan which provides health insurance to eligible children age 18 and under. Children qualify for CHIP based on family size and income.

health care advocacy groups in Montana

Forward Montana – Forward Montana is a volunteer-run organization advocating guaranteed affordable coverage for every American.

Montanans for Single-Payer – Montanans for Single-Payer is a statewide group formed to affect the current national debate on health care reform. The group is committed to true universal health care, a Medicare-type system where everyone is in and no one is out.