A Cancer Survivor Hoped To Work — Then She Lost Her Medicaid Disability Coverage

Taya Hailstone has been in remission from childhood Hodgkin lymphoma for five years. But the cancer’s lasting damage to her organs and nerves can make basic tasks, like loading a dishwasher, hard. Still, Montana’s health department decided last year that Hailstone is no longer eligible for low-cost disability health coverage through Medicaid. The department switched her coverage to the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, another Medicaid program — three months before she aged out. Before making the decision, the state didn’t seek records from the medical team treating Hailstone, according to letters from those doctors reviewed by KFF Health News. Rather, the administrative ruling came after state officials learned the now-19-year-old had stopped receiving Social Security disability payments. She said she did that because she hoped to get healthy enough to work and save some money — beyond what’s allowed under the strict income caps tethered to those payments. But her health changes day to day, and she said for now she’s still too sick to consistently work. Hailstone, who lives with her mom, has been able to keep Medicaid coverage while they appeal the case. She said that w...