Over 48,000 Montanans Enrolled In ACA Coverage In 2018

Montana Public Radio | By Eric Whitney

Published December 22, 2017 at 4:20 PM MST

The Montana Healthcare Foundation says it's making grants available to support better healthcare for people with who have a combination of medical problems, mental illness and/or addiction.

The final tally for the number of Montanans who signed up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act by last Friday’s deadline are in, and they’re more than 90 percent of what they were last year.

"We’re happy with the numbers," says Olivia Riutta with the Montana Primary Care Association.

The Montana Primary Care Association is part of a statewide coalition of health organizations that helped people get signed up. It was a bigger challenge this year because the open enrollment period for coverage was half as long as last year, and there was a lot less marketing by the federal government.

"Most of the organizations in the coalition don’t receive any funding support at all," Riutta says.

In total, 48,450 Montanans enrolled in coverage for 2018, that’s only about 4,000 fewer than this year.

Although the enrollment period is now closed, people can still get coverage if they have certain life changes, like getting married or aging out of a parent’s health plan. American Indians can enroll at any time.