Cancer survivor loses Medicaid disability coverage in Montana amid broader debate over work requirement exemptions
Taya Hailstone, a 19-year-old Montana resident who has been in remission from childhood Hodgkin lymphoma for five years, was removed from Medicaid disability coverage by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. The state made its determination after learning Hailstone had stopped receiving Social Security disability payments — without first seeking records from her treating physicians, according to letters from those doctors reviewed by KFF Health News. Hailstone has retained coverage while appealing the decision.
Single source · Not corroborated
Taya Hailstone was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at age 10. Her cancer treatment led to the partial removal of her intestines, leaving her body unable to reliably process food and prone to severe dehydration. She reported that lingering side effects cause mental fogginess and swelling in her hands and feet severe enough to make gripping a fork or walking across a room difficult. She typically attends three medical appointments per week in Billings, nearly an hour from her home in Roundup, Montana.
Montana's health department switched Hailstone's Medicaid coverage category to the Children's Health Insurance Program — a separate Medicaid program — three months before she aged out of it, according to NPR and KFF Health News reporting. The administrative ruling followed state officials learning she had stopped receiving Social Security disability payments, which she said she did because she hoped to eventually work and save money beyond the strict income caps tied to those payments. The state did not consult her medical team before making its determination, according to letters from her physicians.
Hailstone's case has drawn attention because of its timing alongside a new federal policy. Congress enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which requires an estimated 18.5 million Medicaid enrollees to prove they are working, in school, or volunteering to keep their coverage, with states required to implement the rules by January 2027. More than 5 million people are projected to lose Medicaid by 2034 as a result of these requirements, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Some enrollees can be exempted if they are deemed too ill to work, a determination states must now make for a larger population.