Healthy Montana Kids gap leaves Oakleigh McDonald uninsured

Jonnell Wieder earned too much money at her job to keep her Medicaid coverage when the COVID-19 public health emergency ended in 2023 and states resumed checking whether people were eligible for the program. She was reassured that Medicaid would provide postpartum coverage for her and her daughter, Oakleigh McDonald, who was born in July of that year. Wieder, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana, can access some health services free of charge through her tribe's health clinics, but funding is limited, so she relied on Medicaid for herself and Oakleigh. Months before Oakleigh's 1st birthday, Wieder completed and returned paperwork to enroll her daughter in Healthy Montana Kids, but her paperwork, caught up in lengthy delays and processing times, did not go through. "As soon as she turned 1, they cut her off completely," Wieder said. It took six months for Wieder to get Oakleigh covered again through Healthy Montana Kids after tribal health workers helped resubmit the application and Wieder repeatedly called the state's health department with dropped calls.