Ed Buttrey
President and CEO
Montana Hospital Association

July 1, 2025

This bill represents a drastic rollback of federal support for our nation’s healthcare, with nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. Cuts of this magnitude will have significant impacts on patients, communities, hospitals and other healthcare providers across our country.

However, we expect that Montana will fare better than many other states. Our state leaders have designed a Medicaid program that operates within our means and well below various thresholds previously set by the federal government to contain spending.

We are relieved that new restrictions on how states finance their Medicaid programs will not impact Montana Medicaid today, but we remain concerned that the measures passed by the Senate today could have serious consequences for our state long-term. The Senate’s measures to both freeze and reduce the federal government’s support for states’ healthcare programs—such as the provider tax program—does not solve the problem of rising healthcare costs, it only shifts the burden to the states.

We are closely watching new requirements on how states administer their Medicaid programs. We are advocating for streamlined processes and systems that will not unduly burden eligible beneficiaries with unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles to coverage, nor create significant new costs for our state that could reduce funding for healthcare services for vulnerable Montanans.

Our goal is to protect Medicaid coverage for all eligible Montanans. Medicaid has ensured access to care for those who need it most while ensuring the financial viability of our state’s extremely rural healthcare system. High numbers of uninsured patients put tremendous pressure on hospitals, which could result in the loss of services, staff reductions and longer waiting times in emergency departments. Significant reductions to the Montana Medicaid program will impact everyone, not just Medicaid beneficiaries.

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