Brian Schweitzer in The Missoulian

On Health Care: ObamaCare should control costs more & have more flexibility

Gov. Brian Schweitzer said he will ask the U.S. government to let Montana set up its own universal health care program, taking his rhetorical fight over health care to another level. Like Republicans who object to the federal health care law, the Democratic governor also argues it doesn't do enough to control costs and says his state should have more flexibility than the law allows. But Schweitzer has completely different plans for the Medicare and Medicaid money the federal government gives the state to administer those programs.

Schweitzer would like to create a state-run system that borrows from the program used in Saskatchewan. He said the Canadian province controls cost by negotiating drug prices and limiting non-emergency procedures such as MRIs. Schweitzer said the province's demographics and economy are similar to Montana in several ways, yet its residents live longer while spending far less on health care.

Source: The Missoulian coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Sep 28, 2011

On Health Care: Medicare for all makes more sense than ObamaCare

Schweitzer argues that ObamaCare doesn't do enough to control costs and says his state should have more flexibility. It is not the first time Schweitzer has criticized the federal health care law, nor is it the first time he has called for some form of cheap government-run insurance.

During the health care debate two years ago, only the most liberal lawmakers were calling for some form of the doomed proposals for "Medicare for all." But Schweitzer continues to argue that a program like that makes much more sense than the one signed into law by President Barack Obama. The governor told a regional director of the Department of Health and Human Services that Congress has designed a "pack of crap" that gives away far too much to the pharmaceutical industry.

Schweitzer said Montanans with private insurance could drop that coverage if they choose and buy into the state-run plan at a cheaper rate. He envisioned a system that would cover, with copays for service, all the uninsured in Montana.

Source: The Missoulian coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Sep 28, 2011

The above quotations are from Media coverage of MT political races in The Missoulian. Click here for other excerpts from Media coverage of MT political races in The Missoulian. Click here for other excerpts by Brian Schweitzer. Click here for a profile of Brian Schweitzer.
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