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Medicaid expansion debate will affect other health policy issues before Montana Legislature

Legislative leaders say the decision whether to renew Montana’s Medicaid expansion program this year will loom over behavioral health spending and hospital regulation, among other topics.

A last-minute change to a 2019 bill put an end date on Montana’s Medicaid expansion program, setting the stage for what is anticipated to be the most significant health care debate of the 2025 Legislature.

In recent interviews, legislative leaders predicted a vigorous debate over keeping the Medicaid expansion program, which pays the medical bills of more than 75,000 low-income Montanans at an annual cost of...