Skip to main content
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Children’s Health Insurance Coverage – Montana

State faces backlog of applications for Montana Healthy Kids, By Mike Dennison, December 10, 2009, The Missoulian: “Two months into the state’s new, expanded children’s health insurance program, only about 740 kids have been added, as health officials try to erase a backlog in processing applications. State officials also have held off on a planned statewide advertising blitz for the new program, known as Healthy Montana Kids, while they work through delays in the approval process. ‘We want to make sure our eligibility (processing) is working as it should,’ said Anna Whiting Sorrell, director of the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. ‘We don’t want to frustrate people.’ Yet Whiting Sorrell said the state is still encouraging families to apply for the programs. ‘Our message to all Montana families who would like health coverage for their children is, apply now,’ she said. ‘Even though we’re experiencing a heavy workload, people should still apply.’ Healthy Montana Kids, approved by voter initiative in 2008, expands two government health insurance programs – Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Plan – with the goal of covering an additional 29,000 children in low- and moderate-income families in Montana…”