Hess says more work to be done on Medicaid

Gov. Steve Bullock's proposal to expand Medicaid would have eventually cost the state $250 million a year, and "this is not manageable," said Rep. Stephanie Hess, R-Havre.

Hess sits on the House Human Services Committee, which sat through an eight-and-a-half hour session Friday night listening to testimony for and against — mostly for — Bullock's plan.

Hess said that in the first year of the plan, the state would have to chip in $34 million, "which seems manageable," she said. But the $250 million figure "is not manageable."

"There are many of us who believe that we can do better," she said.

"That was a Washington, D.C. solution, not a Montana solution," she said.

"In D.C., the answer is to run up the debt currently at $18 trillion and rising," she said. "In Montana, we rightly have a constitutional mandate to balance the budget.”

Friday night's vote killing Bullock's proposal is not the end of the issue, she said.

She said the Republicans in the Legislature are looking at alternative proposals.

She said a bill carried by Rep. Nancy Balance, R-Hamilton, would expand coverage for veterans and low-income parents

"I want to reiterate that we are no where near the end of our work on health care-related issues including Medicaid," she said.