Health Care - Let's Talk About It
Crushing medical expense is the leading cause of bankruptcies.
Nationwide: 66.5% of all bankruptcies in this country are related to health care costs. Visits to the emergency rooms are the leading cause of medical debt. According to the World Journal of Emergency Medicine, the poor and uninsured often have no other option for treatment other than emergency rooms.
Democrats offer solutions. Republicans oppose their efforts.
Read more.
The Ravalli Democratic Committee supports Affordable Health Care for All
We believe Montanans should:
- Know that ‘life’ is the first unalienable right enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, and since health care enhances life – and even makes it possible - should share that hallowed status.
- Support universal health care because access to medical treatment not only heals sick people but keeps healthy people as well.
- Embrace that health care includes vital focus on mental health and substance abuse treatment.
- Acknowledge that Medicare and Medicaid are not perfect but deserve support and improvement because the elderly and disabled face major health challenges.
Rural areas, so prevalent in Montana, are underserved by doctors and hospitals and only nationally subsidized health care can close the gap.
The Affordable Care Act is helping millions of Americans to have health insurance. Montana Republicans have worked to repeal the ACA.
The Affordable Care act was passed in 2010 without a single GOP vote.
Since then, Republican politicians have voted more than 50 times to appeal or weaken the law. Every Montana senator and congressman, except Jon Tester, have voted with their fellow Republicans.
- Representative Matt Rosendale’s campaign website said, “We can’t give up on repealing and replacing Obamacare.”
- Senator Daines agrees: “Obamacare is a bad law – plain and simple. I was elected to serve the people of Montana … and that’s why I will vote to repeal it.”
- Representative Ryan Zinke? In early 2017, Zinke voted on a budget resolution to begin the process of repealing the ACA.
- Don’t forget former Representative Greg Gianforte. In May 2017, the Washington Examiner reported that Gianforte said, “(I) … favor getting rid of Obama’s healthcare law…”
Healthcare Costs are Rising and Montanans need Help
The chart below shows healthcare costs have risen dramatically since the mid 1960s and are continuing to increase.
According to Terry Minow, chair of Big Sky 55, a group that focuses on health care issues for older Montanans, over 120,000 Montanans lost their Medicaid and Healthy Montana Kids coverage in the past few months.
