Since the Montana HELP Act went into effect Jan. 1, more than half of Flathead County’s uninsured adults who qualified for Medicaid through the recent expansion now have health insurance.

The expansion covered people living at 138 percent of the federal poverty level. That works out to a family of four living off roughly $33,000 a year.

The Montana Budget and Policy Center estimated that within Flathead County, the Medicaid expansion put insurance in reach for an additional 6,276 people. As of Feb. 15, the Department of Public Health and Human Services recorded 3,431 Flathead County residents enrolled through the HELP Act.

State Medicaid Director Mary Dalton said the number of people signing up for Medicaid has matched the state’s expectation.

“It’s hard to predict human behavior, but these numbers are showing how interested people are in health care, and shows the need that has been in Montana,” Dalton said.

When the Medicaid expansion kicked in, roughly 70,000 low-income Montanans became eligible for coverage. As of Feb. 15, nearly 33,000 Montanans had signed up for Medicaid through the new legislation, according to the state agency.

Dalton said she believes those who haven’t signed up either don’t know they qualify for Medicaid or think they ran out of time to apply.

“They don’t realize they can sign up for Medicaid any time within the year,” she said. “And the sooner they do it, the easier they can breathe and not worry about what’s to come as much.”

The Aharts, a Kalispell family of four, are waiting to hear if they fall under the new standards for Medicaid eligibility. When they moved to Montana from Alaska in 2014, they fell into a gap. With an income of roughly $40,000, they made too much money to qualify for Medicaid and too little to afford health insurance.

“We thought if we just did the right things, like eat right — well just be healthy — everything would be OK,” Arica Ahart said. “But that’s not always true.”

As Ahart talked, her 6-year-old daughter Ziva crawled into her lap. On introduction, Ziva likes to tell people she has a hole in her heart. In March, she will fly to Seattle with her mom to have invasive heart surgery to block that hole, a birth defect known as Atrial Septal Defect.

Ziva started showing signs of defect in December. In January, she told her mom her heart felt too big. In February, she sat down outside of Wal-Mart and cried.

“I put my hand on her chest, and it was furious. It felt like her heart would jump into my hand,” Ahart said.

On Feb. 3, doctors told the family Ziva’s heart was growing too fast because of the hole. According to the American Heart Association, Atrial Septal Defect is common. There’s an average of 200,000 U.S. cases each year.

But it’s expensive.

Ziva’s initial trip to a pediatrician cost $200. The sonogram she had the next day cost more than $2,000. The surgery could cost roughly $15,000, according to the National Institute of Health.

The family expects to hear if they’ve been approved for coverage by mid-March, weeks before Ziva’s anticipated surgery date.

“The social service workers said we should be able to get insurance for at least the kids,” Ahart said. “I’d just be happy if the kids are covered. Me and my husband can be fine without it.”

To support Ziva’s upcoming surgery, go to www.gofundme.com/9rbbsxpe.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.