Journalist with KFF Health News covering health care access, policy, and politics — and how all that plays out in people’s lives | [email protected]
Montana
Joined March 2013
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Katheryn Houghton retweeted
The $50B Rural Health Transformation Program lacks transparency, which could make it difficult to protect against fraud, identify successful projects+ensure the program delivers on its promise to transform the system. Groups r calling for more public info
kffhealthnews.org/rural-heal…
Katheryn Houghton retweeted
Will a Medicaid enrollee who suffers from seizures and addiction, and became homeless after losing his job, be able to navigate the process to prove he's too frail to work? That's the kind of question hanging over the implementation of a new Medicaid work requirement. @K_Hought
Some states that have long wanted to pass Medicaid work requirements planned to excuse people without steady housing from the rules. But the federal government said that’s not happening. @K_Hought reports⤵️
kffhealthnews.org/medicaid/m…
Tywon has seizures that make it hard to work. He's been homeless since his wife's death last year. Now he worries new Medicaid work requirements could jeopardize his health care, even if he qualifies for an exemption.
Read (or listen to) his story here: kffhealthnews.org/medicaid/m…
A dozen scientists interviewed for this article said that any crimes or errors committed by Munster, who was transporting vials of inactivated mpox for research purposes, seemed to be over paperwork and posed no threat to the public.
“While we sit around removing pandemic preparedness grants, arresting scientists, locking them up in some cases,” said zoologist Peter Daszak, “viruses are out there evolving.”
@K_Hought & @ArthurAllen202 report ⤵️
kffhealthnews.org/public-hea…
Already in Montana:
• Some clinics can’t afford to hire enough staff — and point to low Medicaid rates.
• Medicaid applicants can face long waits to get help.
It's a preview of a bigger problem: already strained safety net systems, even before new federal work rules kick in.
Montana plans to be one of the first states to enforce President Trump’s work mandate for Medicaid enrollees. The move will add another challenge for state health officials trying to plug a massive budget hole.
@K_Hought reports ⤵️
kffhealthnews.org/medicaid/m…
“ There’s a need and a desire for doula services, but a lot of people can’t afford it. So that means many of us have other jobs that we have to juggle,” said Sheri Walker, a Helena-based doula who is also a part-time labor and delivery nurse.
People relying on Medicaid in Montana might gain access to doula support in pregnancy after all. @K_Hought follows up on reporting that a state budget deficit had stalled those plans.
kffhealthnews.org/medicaid/d…
Katheryn Houghton retweeted
Meet some of the people whose lives were upended after their rural dialysis center closed. Some moved to be closer to care. One is living in a rental in another city on weekdays. Another drives 4+ hours roundtrip for care, 3 times a week. Read and listen:
npr.org/2026/04/15/nx-s1-578…
MT's stalled Medicaid coverage for doulas shows how fast services can disappear as federal cuts loom.
Misty hoped to be a full-time doula in her town, 100 miles from a birthing hospital. Instead she has to juggle that work a post office job @KFFHealthNews
kffhealthnews.org/news/artic…
As federal cuts loom, MT's stalled Medicaid coverage for doulas shows how fast optional services can disappear.
Misty Pipe hoped to be a full-time doula in her hometown, 100 miles from a birthing hospital. For now, she has to juggle that work with a paid job at the post office.
Medicaid cuts begin in Montana kffhealthnews.org/MjE3NjQxOA via @kffhealthnews by @K_Hought #mtnews #mtpol
Katheryn Houghton retweeted
Medicaid cuts begin in Montana kffhealthnews.org/MjE3NjQxOA via @kffhealthnews by @K_Hought #mtnews #mtpol
Katheryn Houghton retweeted
“There’s been a fundamental destruction.”
Scientists are leaving the National Institutes of Health in droves under President Donald Trump.
Read what they left behind, by @rachanadpradhan and @K_Hought ⤵️
kffhealthnews.org/news/artic…
“It’s clear when someone comes out with a drug and now you’ve just cured a disease. But you never know which ones could have been cured...We don’t know what we’ve lost.”
#⃣s by @hollyhacker
Our full story is below. More on the people and work lost: cnn.com/2026/03/05/health/ni…
The number of people employed at the NIH is at its lowest level in at least two decades.
Hear from six scientists run out by Trump and the work they left behind on cancer research, tick-borne diseases, and more.
Me + @K_Hought @KFFHealthNews for @CNN cnn.com/2026/03/05/health/ni…
Katheryn Houghton retweeted
In one small town on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana, new buildings serve as symbols of a town trying to rebuild after being devastated by addiction.
@K_Hought reports ⤵️ kffhealthnews.org/news/artic…
Montana has submitted its application to implement Medicaid work requirements ahead of the new federal law. How the Trump Administration responds may indicate what other states can expect. dphhs.mt.gov/assets/1115waiv…
In Montana, around the same time officials announced they had submitted a work requirement waiver to the feds, Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reported state delays in reviewing Medicaid applications. The new requirements would add more paperwork. mtpr.org/montana-news/2025-0…
If Montana gets a greenlight to implement work requirements early, it’s a place to watch how the incoming national standards could play out.
We'll be following this at @KFFHealthNews