The first action of the Joint Appropriations/Finance & Claims Joint Subcommittee for Health and Human Services cut nearly $1 billion from the base over the biennium to start the budget process. The Subcommittee will now devote time merely rebuilding a base, at a time when families, seniors, and people with disabilities who shouldered the brunt of similar budget cuts in 2017 are still hurting. Many Montanans have been struggling this past year. Making additional cuts to home and community based services that allow family members to stay in their homes, cuts to already reduced mental health and substance use disorder services, and cuts critical payments to rural hospitals and health care providers is unconscionable during times like these.
You can learn more about the specifics of the action and where theses cuts come from here.
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