A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
If expanded as intended under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid might help as many as 70,000 Montanans obtain affordable health insurance. That would be a good thing to do.
But would it still be a good thing to do if it cut the incomes and placed additional financial burdens on the 165,600 Montanans already on Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program?
That’s not just a fair question — it’s the question. Because that’s what Great Falls Republican Sen. Ed Buttrey’s SB-405 does. Buttreycaid both helps the wealthiest of the poor, and hurts the poorest of the poor — and hurts more than twice as many as it helps.
Are Democrats and progressives willing to make that Faustian bargain? Or, will they honor the principle of first, do no harm?