Daines remains undecided on GOP health bill

Montana’s Republican senator has yet to take a stance on his party’s plan to replace the nation’s current law shaping how people access health coverage.

During a tele-town hall Wednesday night, Sen. Steve Daines said he’s still undecided on the plan GOP leaders are debating in Washington, though he echoed his belief that the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” isn’t working.

“I’m most focused on final outcome as it relates to health coverage and premiums,” Daines said as he described the effort in Congress to revise the current plan, which has yet to secure enough support for debate.

“I’m focused right now on what’s the end product,” Daines said.

He said that means a replacement plan that lowers insurance premiums, ensures people with preexisting conditions can access coverage, and makes sure Medicaid is available to those who need it.

After the meeting, a representative with Daines’ office said the senator will take a position on the plan when it’s no longer working through revisions. If the Senate GOP bill loses support from three of the 52 Republican senators, it fails. Earlier this week Republicans delayed the vote on their health bill due to a lack of votes to begin debating the legislation.

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester on Tuesday spoke to Montanans via a Facebook live event, repeating his stance that the GOP plan would hurt Montanans.

DURING the Wednesday night voice-to-voice meeting with voters, Daines expressed his hope health reform will take place. He answered questions from people who gave their first name and location in Montana.

As an argument of Obamacare’s failings, Daines pointed to Montana insurance premiums increasing by 133 percent over the past five years. He also noted that health insurers throughout the nation are pulling out of the exchange offered through the law. However, the state’s auditor’s office has said Montana’s three major carriers have filed to remain in the state.

A woman from Great Falls asked Daines how he could consider a plan that the Congressional Budget Office predicts could leave 22 million people without coverage. She said lawmakers have a “moral imperative” to ensure “no one gets left out of health care.”

Daines pointed to the office’s estimates for Obama’s health care law. At the start of 2016, the CBO slashed its projection for the year of exchange enrollment from 21 million to 13 million.

“The CBO score is weak at best,” Daines said.

A caller from Bozeman said the limited funding in the GOP plan for Medicaid expansion was a “federal cop-out and forces states to come up with the money.” Or else, he said, people will go without coverage.

Roughly 77,000 Montanans are enrolled in the state’s expansion, known as the HELP Act. When the act passed in 2015, officials predicted 45,000 people would enroll by 2020.

The act came with a 2019 sunset date so lawmakers could reassess the sustainability of the program under stepped-down federal reimbursement rates.

The current Senate measure, like the House proposal, would phase out the extra federal money provided to states that expanded Medicaid eligibility. It would also put the entire Medicaid program on a budget, which currently is an open-ended entitlement.

Daines said whether or not the Affordable Care Act is replaced, he doesn’t think the state’s expansion could survive.

“We can’t afford to keep it,” he said.

He said that goes for Montana and the federal budget.

“The federal government needs to balance its budget, too,” he said.

The U.S. has roughly $20 trillion in debt. Daines said it was immoral to leave that burden to future generations.

A woman based in Missoula told Daines she appreciated his work, but said his stance on defunding Planned Parenthood challenges women’s ability to access care.

“I don’t understand how you say that you believe that patients should be at center and that the government shouldn’t interfere and then say that you will take Planned Parenthood away,” she said.

“I am pro-life,” Daines said. “I will stand and fight for those who are most vulnerable in our society.”

That includes the unborn, he added.

Daines said the Senate’s plan redirects Planned Parenthood dollars to community health centers, which provide primary health services to people in medically underserved areas.

“In Montana, we have five Planned Parenthood clinics, but we have 17 community health centers,” he said.

Daines said another issue he has with Obama’s health overhaul is the penalty attached to it for people who don’t buy health insurance. He said according to data his staff received from the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday, 34,000 Montanans paid that penalty. He said 14,000 of those people had annual incomes below $25,000.

A caller from the Flathead Valley said she was one of those 14,000.

“We keep ourselves healthy ... we do not want to see a national health system,” she said.

She said as the system stands, she can’t build up a health savings account, a tax-advantaged medical savings available to taxpayers enrolled in a high-deductible health plan.

“We’re trying to do this bit by bit… and we keep running into this roadblock,” she said. “It just doesn’t seem right.”

Daines said he would keep her concern in mind as he works with lawmakers to continue to reshape the nation’s health law.

At the end of the conversation, Daines said roughly 40,000 people phoned in for the meeting.