‘More questions than answers’: Tribal representatives caution state health officials against plan for Medicaid work requirements 

Tribal health leaders during a Tuesday public consultation questioned and criticized Montana’s move toward Medicaid work requirements and premiums for the low-income health coverage plan — a process the state health department is kickstarting months ahead of the schedule laid out in a Republican-backed domestic policy bill signed by President Donald Trump on July 4.

Although Native Americans are exempted from many of the new state and federal requirements , representatives from tribal governments and Urban Indian Organizations raised red flags about the risks of increased bureaucracy during the consultation. Several leaders expressed concerns that enrolled tribal members and health clinic patients may end up ensnared by administrative red tape and urged the state health department to ta