Eric Whitney
Eric Whitney is NPR's Mountain West/Great Plains Bureau Chief, and was the former news director for Montana Public Radio.
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The president invoked the Defense Production Act after more than a dozen beef, pork and poultry plants across the country shut down either temporarily or indefinitely in the past few weeks. -
If a funding extension can't be hammered out in the Montana Legislature, the state could be the first to undo an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
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If the state's ballot initiative to fund Medicaid's expansion passes, it will mean a $2-per-pack increase in taxes on cigarettes and a new tax on electronic cigarettes.
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President Trump first nominee to lead the Indian Health Service is out of the picture. Montana's senators are urging the administration to name a new nominee quickly.
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About a quarter of Native Americans report experiencing discrimination in health care, according to a poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
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Montana's three main health insurance firms say the Republican Senate's proposed cuts to Medicaid, and any plan to repeal the individual mandate, could drive up health costs for everyone.
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Health care is on the minds of many potential voters in Montana, but the House health bill itself is unlikely to sway entrenched Republican voters in the special election next week.
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The Veterans Choice program was supposed to make it quicker and easier for vets to see a doctor by paying for private-sector care. But it's ended up being slower and more complicated.
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Many Native Americans have shifted to the Affordable Care Act for health coverage, and in rural Montana that's created jobs. The state could lose 3,000 health care jobs if the ACA is repealed.
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The Obama administration has said no to many states' requests to take more control over Medicaid. But the incoming Congress and new White House team may be more amenable.
