Expanding Medicaid plan divides Hi-Line lawmakers

The Hi-Line delegation to the Montana Legislature Tuesday night held a relatively low-keyed session discussing activities of the recently concluded session.

On most issues, there was a partisan divide, with the three Democrats at odds with the two Republicans.

But when the issue of the state expanding the Medicaid program to cover health care needs of 70,000 uninsured Montanans was brought up, the rift became more sharp.

An audience member took Republicans to task for their failure to support the idea strongly backed by Gov. Steve Bullock. The federal government would pay 100 percent of the cost for three years and promises to pay 90 percent after that.

"Three years is not long enough. This program lasts forever," said Rep. Kris Hansen, R-Havre.

"I'm not going to vote for a bill for the state of Montana to bail out yet another failed federal program," she continued forcefully,

Under the program, she said, medical expenses would be paid for "able-bodied young people who refuse to work."

"I thought it was for the working poor," a person in the audience said.

"That was the spin," Hansen replied.

"You are talking about a lot of patients who could get good care," said Bill Thackery, an audience member who supports Medicaid expansion.

Hansen said Republicans have passed Medicaid expansion that would help poor people, but they were all rejected by "veto-happy governors."

State Sen. Greg Jergeson, D-Chinook, took the opposite approach. He favors Medicaid expansion, and supported a compromise bill that would have used the federal money to purchase health insurance for the 70,000 people in need.

He said the bill would benefit people who make $7 to $20 an hour who can't afford to buy insurance and whose employers can't afford to provide group insurance.

Jergeson said the bill would encourage people to seek medical care when they first become sick rather than wait until they are more ill and it is costlier to heal.

The bill was supported by the Montana Hospital Association and the Montana Chamber of Commerce, Jergeson said.

Hill County Republican Chairman Andrew Brekke, who works for Erickson Insurance Co., said his employer is a member of the Montana Chamber and didn't support the bill.

He said he has seen double-digit increases in insurance rates since the adoption of Obamacare.

Jergeson said that was because Montana's insurance commissioner doesn't have the authority to crack down on rate increases like similar commissioners in 48 states.

Brekke said rates may be higher in other states, but they have increased nationwide.

On other topics:

Medicaid increases

Northern Montana Hospital CEO Dave Henry asked the lawmakers to override Bullock's veto of a 2 percent increase in Medicaid payments to providers.

He said the veto was an insult to the workers at medical facilities and the patients they treat.

"I was disappointed it got caught up in the political morass," he said.

"One hundred and forty of you voted for it, and it got vetoed by a rookie governor," Henry said.

Under legislative rules, lawmakers get a chance to override the veto by a mail vote, and all five members present said they would vote to override.

Jergeson said he wouldn't let politics affect his vote against the governor on the issue, and Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, who called himself "a caucus of one," said he would vote to override.

Rep. Clarena Brockie, D-Hays, said she wished the matter had been voted on earlier in the session, and the issue could have been resolved by now.

Illegal immigrants

Former legislative candidate Karen Sloan said she was "appalled" by the anti-immigrant tone of some comments made by lawmakers during the debate on legislation to curb hiring of illegal aliens in the state.

Jergeson, who voted against the legislation, recalled a time in 1987 when he and "the best hired hand I ever had on my ranch" were riding in a truck and heard a radio commercial reminding employers to check if their employees were legal.

"He was from the Fort Belknap community, and his mother was from Ireland," Jergeson said. "I'll be damned if I'm going to ask him if he's legal. I'll go to jail first."

The state ought not be enforcing the law, he said.

Hansen was aghast at the suggestion that the law be ignored.

"It's a federal matter," Jergeson said.

"The estimates are there are 5,000 to 7,000 illegal illegal workers in Montana," Hansen protested. "That's 5,000 to 7,000 Montanas who don't have those jobs."

Brockie said part of the problem is with employers who hire illegally and pay them less than minimum wage, thus lower wages for everyone.

Windy Boy, who represents three Indian reservations, said he opposed the Republican bill, "but I wanted to amend it to make it retroactive 300 years."