The Missoulian: on Health Care
Bob Kelleher:
Single-payer, government-funded health system
Kelleher said Baucus is too beholden to health insurance companies--and the money they donate to political campaigns--to oversee any meaningful change to America’s broken health care system.
“Private insurance companies have been, are and will be under the Baucus plan soaking up 25 percent of the public’s money,” he said. “Only 75 percent of each insurance dollar goes to a doctor or a hospital.”
Kelleher, who supports a single-payer, government-funded health system as in Canada, also faulted Baucus for not having a more detailed plan to fix health care. “If he hasn’t figured it out in 30 years, what
Baucus is saying is that there will be no health program as long as I’m chair of the Senate Finance Committee,” Kelleher said. “Unless it’s controlled by private insurance companies.”
Source: By Jennifer McKee, The Missoulian
Jul 3, 2008
Brian Schweitzer:
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
Brian Schweitzer:
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
Steve Bullock:
Passed Medicaid expansion with bipartisan support
When Bullock pointed out that repeal of the ACA would kill Montana's Medicaid expansion that provided health insurance to 90,000 Montanans, Daines termed the attack "Right out of Chuck Schumer's playbook." Bullock shot back that his position on health
care "is a playbook right out of Montana. We've actually brought folks together to get out the health care Senator Daines has tried to take away." It took a bipartisan effort to pass Medicaid expansion in Montana.
Source: The Missoulian on 2020 Montana Senate debate
Sep 28, 2020
Steve Bullock:
COVID: don't like masks but need to let science drive this
The two drew clear lines on the contentious subject of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Bullock instituted a mask mandate for all counties with more than four cases. Daines said masking should be a matter of personal responsibility, "not
a federal or state mandate." Bullock responded that, "I don't like these masks any more than anyone else. "But we need to let science drive this . this shouldn't be about politics, Senator, this should be about public health," Bullock said.
Source: The Missoulian on 2020 Montana Senate debate
Sep 28, 2020
Steve Daines:
Repeal Obamacare; protect those with pre-existing conditions
Daines has said repeatedly that even if the court upholds the repeal of the ACA, also known as Obamacare, he'd ensure protections--including against exorbitant fees--for people with preexisting conditions.
When Bullock pointed out that repeal of the ACA would kill Montana's Medicaid expansion that provided health insurance to 90,000 Montanans, Daines termed the attack "Right out of Chuck Schumer's playbook."
Source: The Missoulian on 2020 Montana Senate debate
Sep 28, 2020
Steve Daines:
COVID: no masking mandate, personal responsibility
The two drew clear lines on the contentious subject of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Bullock instituted a mask mandate for all counties with more than four cases. Daines said masking should be a matter of personal responsibility, "not a federal or state mandate."
Source: The Missoulian on 2020 Montana Senate debate
Sep 28, 2020
Page last updated: Oct 31, 2024