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Brian Schweitzer on Health Care

Democratic MT Governor

 


ObamaCare was written by Big Pharma & insurance lobbyists

Schweitzer has no patience for Democratic third way-ism on economic issues. He criticizes ObamaCare from the left, blaming fellow Montanan Max Baucus (the chairman of the Senate committee responsible for drafting much of the law) for allowing special interests to influence the bill. "This bill, which was written by the insurance company and pharmaceutical lobbyists, doesn't challenge the expenses," Schweitzer tells me. "Why would it? If you're in the business, and you get to write the bill, what are you going to do?"

At the center of his own proposal is allowing citizens below the retirement age to enroll in Medicare, forcing private insurers to compete against the government rate. "As you probably recall, most Democrats were calling for a public option. But what came out of the Senate Finance Committee did not have a public option," Schweitzer says, blaming health insurance lobbyists and their enablers in both parties. "We now have the corporate party and the corporate-lite party."

Source: Michael Warren in The Weekly Standard magazine , Dec 23, 2013

Supports More Federal Funding for Health Coverage

Medicare is in danger of going bankrupt as the baby boomers reach Medicare age. Politicians are willing to talk about saving medicare, we need leadership that is committed to saving medicare! Brian would allow retirees without health care to buy into the Medicare system early. The same prescription drug you buy here costs half as much in Canada, and half of that in Mexico! I know how to stop gouging by drug companies. Allow importation of prescription medicines and watch how quickly drug prices fall.
Source: www.brianschweitzer.com , Sep 27, 2000

Adopt national health reform legislation before the end of the year.

Schweitzer signed a letter from 22 Governors to Congressional leaders:

In a letter to congressional leadership, 22 governors are urging federal lawmakers to adopt national health reform legislation before the end of the year to provide families and businesses with much-needed security and stability.

"We commend you and your colleagues for provisions included in your bills that will help states," the governors wrote. "Many of the provisions will allow states to achieve long term savings and help cover those who currently go without health coverage. We recognize that health reform is a shared responsibility and everyone, including state governments, needs to partner to reform our broken health care system."

"Efforts at the federal level, like the recent and critical investments that support states' HIV and prevention initiatives, are beginning the work to lower health care costs. Our citizens and our states, however, will only achieve the health care security and stability they need if we succeed in working together to achieve health care reform."

Source: Letter from CO Gov. Bill Ritter and 21 other Governors 10-GOV1 on Oct 1, 2009

Other governors on Health Care: Brian Schweitzer on other issues:
MT Gubernatorial:
Steve Bullock
MT Senatorial:
Amanda Curtis
Champ Edmunds
Corey Stapleton
John Bohlinger
John Walsh
Jon Tester
Sam Rankin
Steve Daines

Gubernatorial Debates 2014:
AL: Bentley(R) vs.Griffith(D)
AR: Ross(D) vs.Hutchinson(R) vs.Griffin(R,Lt.Gov.)
AZ: Ducey(R) vs.DuVal(D) vs.Mealer(AE) vs.Gilbert(L) vs.Riggs(R)
CA: Brown(D) vs.Kashkari(R)
CO: Hickenlooper(D) vs.Beauprez(R) vs.Tancredo(R) vs.Hess(L)
CT: Malloy(D) vs.Foley(R) vs.Walker(R,Lt.Gov.)
FL: Scott(R) vs.Crist(D) vs.Snitker(L,Lt.Gov.)
GA: Deal(R) vs.Carter(D) vs.Hunt(L)
HI: Ige(D) vs.Aiona(R) vs.Abercrombie(D)
IA: Branstad(R) vs.Hatch(D) vs.Hoefling(R)
MA: Coakley(D) vs.Baker(R) &Polito(R,Lt.Gov.) vs.Grossman(D) vs.Berwick(D)
ME: LePage(R) vs.Michaud(D) vs.Cutler(I)
MI: Snyder(R) vs.Schauer(D)
NM: Martinez(R) vs.King(D)
NY: Cuomo(D) &Hochul(D,Lt.Gov.) vs.Astorino(R) vs.Hawkins(G) vs.Teachout(D)
OK: Fallin(R) vs.Dorman(D)
PA: Corbett(R) vs.Wolf(D) vs.Schwartz(D,lost primary) vs.Critz(D,Lt.Gov.,lost primary)
Up for re-election 2014:
AK-R: Sean Parnell
AL-R: Robert Bentley
CA-D: Jerry Brown
CO-D: John Hickenlooper
CT-D: Dan Malloy
FL-R: Rick Scott
GA-R: Nathan Deal
HI-D: Neil Abercrombie
IA-R: Terry Branstad
ID-R: Butch Otter
IL-D: Pat Quinn
KS-R: Sam Brownback
ME-R: Paul LePage
MI-R: Rick Snyder
MN-D: Mark Dayton
NH-D: Maggie Hassan
NM-R: Susana Martinez
NV-R: Brian Sandoval
NY-D: Andrew Cuomo
OH-R: John Kasich
OK-R: Mary Fallin
OR-D: John Kitzhaber
PA-R: Tom Corbett
SC-R: Nikki Haley
SD-R: Dennis Daugaard
TN-R: Bill Haslam
VT-D: Peter Shumlin
WI-R: Scott Walker
WY-R: Matt Mead

Term-Limited or Retiring 2014:
AR-D: Mike Beebe
AZ-R: Jan Brewer
MA-D: Deval Patrick
MD-D: Martin O'Malley
RI-I: Linc Chafee
TX-R: Rick Perry
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Election 2013:
New Jersey:
NJ-R: Chris Christie (won)
NJ-D: Barbara Buono (lost)
Virginia:
VA-R: Bob McDonnell(Retiring)
VA-R: Ken Cuccinelli (lost)
VA-D: Terry McAuliffe (won)


Contact info:
Fax number:
406-444-3111





Page last updated: Oct 06, 2014