There appears to be three camps forming in the Montana Legislature. One side wants to stop the renewal of Medicaid expansion in the state. Another side wants to renew it, but with some new sideboards in place. And a third, of course, wants to expand it even further.

Most of the media reports you see looking at the Medicaid expansion renewal debate always seem to be biased in favor of more government or even bigger government.

Tom Burnett is a former Republican state lawmaker from the Gallatin Valley. He is in the do not renew it camp. But even if you're in the renew it camp, he says you better strengthen the work requirement. More importantly, he says you need to "court proof" the work requirement.

Tom Burnett: "If this thing renews, it better have work requirements as promised that stand up to court challenge, because we know what courts do in this state. So if a court comes back and says, the court or the federal government at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services- if either one strikes down our work requirements, then the bill goes away. The Act goes away. The program goes away. So I call that court proofing the work requirements. That better be a part of any renewal."

He added this summary in an email as well:

Montana pays the second-highest rates among the 50 states to medical providers. Only Delaware pays more. If we paid the national average, 72% of Medicare, we’d save hundreds of millions annually. We pay 111% of Medicare rates. California pays 73%. ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion was the largest increase in welfare dependency in decades.

I do not favor renewal of the program as is. I do not favor renewal at all. Should it be renewed, it must be on condition of work requirements, a trigger to withdraw if the federal match rate declines, a tightening of income eligibility, and better eligibility verification.

 

The full audio of our chat with Burnett can be found in the 2nd half of the below podcast:

 


 

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