4 November 2016
Vote NO! on I-181
Ostensibly, I-181 is about funding research to find cures for brain diseases, injuries, Alzheimer’s, and other neurological pathologies. It sets up a Biomedical Research Authority that reviews and approves applications for grants, which would be funded by state of Montana bonds at the rate of $20 million per year for ten years.
That sounds good, but it isn’t. As noted by State Senator Richard Barrett and former State Senate President Bob Story:
The initiative explicitly calls for funding research that has failed to receive funding from competitive national granting organizations such as the National Institutes of Health. As any Montanan who’s recently been a patient knows, the innovations in medical technology, treatments and medications that we benefit from almost all come from some place outside Montana. We believe that the best way to help patients is to make sure that the most effective and promising of these innovations are available to Montanans. And the best way to do that may well be to support the training and recruitment of health care providers, rather than funding research proposals that have already been judged to not be competitive with the best in the nation.
The Billings Gazette agrees, noting that:
Much as we would like to think that a research breakthrough in Montana would lead to cures, cost savings and job creation that would make the investment worthwhile, the truth is we don’t know. There are no guarantees. The initiative doesn’t even require that the state share in royalties from treatments developed through publicly funded research.
The conclusion is inescapable. I-181 is a raid on the public treasury by second and third tier medical researchers, many based in Great Falls. They know they’re not good enough to qualify for NIH money, but they’re greedy and shameless enough to try to dip into the pockets of Montana’s taxpayers by making an end run around the legislature (which probably would bottle up this self-serving proposal in committee).
Whether this scheme is even legal is an open question. In the meantime, there’s no question it would compete for funding with other programs that already are starved for funding. Concludes the Gazette:
Montana already severely underfunds its public health and human services. Medicaid reimbursement rates for Montana nursing homes are so far below the actual costs of caring for frail elders that Montana facilities can’t afford to offer competitive salaries. This causes constant turnover and understaffing.
Regional mental health centers whose clients are mostly low-income Montanans also struggle to keep their doors open because the state pays them less than the cost of having a psychiatrist evaluate a patient needing anti-psychotic medication.
Health care professionals and well as Montana leaders in child protection and criminal justice have identified a great unmet need for effective addiction treatment. But there is no identified source of payment for the many indigent Montanans who are in need.
Montana must compete nationally to recruit physicians, nurses and other health care professionals. The state must adequately support Montana medical residencies, other health professional education and college loan repayment incentives.
In a guest opinion printed Monday, Bob Story, R-Park City, and Dick Barrett, D-Missoula, argued that I-181 is fiscally imprudent and noted that most biomedical innovations come from outside Montana.
“We believe that the best way to help patients is to make sure that the most effective and promising of these innovations are available to Montanans,” Story and Barrett wrote.
We agree. The Gazette editorial board recommends that voters turn down I-181.