Everyone knows health care costs are driven by the bad habit of smoking cigarettes. The cigarette tax will provide healthcare in Montana for 100,000 people that would normally not afford it. The new tax would raise $74 million a year by the year 2023.
One other thing to note, while the Montana Veterans health system passed inspection from the Joint Commission, but, only half of the Montana Veterans are enrolled (click here for 2017 report). There is every reason for Montana veterans to sign up. Sometimes campaign stops can provide information and assistance in signing for their health care.
US Senator Jon Tester has voted for every legislative measure to help veterans. The Montana veterans seem to think an office in Kalispell would help with some of their complaints. It is a distance from Northwest Montana to current facilities. They feel forgotten by the VA.
US Senator Jon Tester has voted for every legislative measure to help veterans. The Montana veterans seem to think an office in Kalispell would help with some of their complaints. It is a distance from Northwest Montana to current facilities. They feel forgotten by the VA.
And, by the way, veterans don't want their health care privatized. The veterans have the best of both worlds. If the VA system is becoming overloaded as when the PTSD epidemic was raging; the director can enlist private and public hospitals to help at no cost to the veterans. So, privatizing the VA is mostly a campaign maneuver and not the best outcomes of our veterans.
A veterans meeting of about 12 particpants provided insight to the privatized veterans program.
...Several participants agreed that the Veterans Choice program, which intended to open avenues for care outside VA facilities, was, in practice, deeply flawed — several told stories of abandoned appointments, missed diagnoses and claims not paid for. Many viewed the recently passed VA Mission Act, intended to shore up many of the issues with the Choice program, with skepticism....
A veterans meeting of about 12 particpants provided insight to the privatized veterans program.
...Several participants agreed that the Veterans Choice program, which intended to open avenues for care outside VA facilities, was, in practice, deeply flawed — several told stories of abandoned appointments, missed diagnoses and claims not paid for. Many viewed the recently passed VA Mission Act, intended to shore up many of the issues with the Choice program, with skepticism....
This is from "The Military Times."
April 10, 2018
...Nearly everyone (click here) in the veterans community and on Capitol Hill is against privatizing VA — and nearly everyone has a different definition of what privatization is.
Last week, VA officials released a statement titled “Debunking the VA Privatization Myth,” which insists “there is no effort underway to privatize VA,” and “to suggest otherwise is completely false and a red herring designed to distract and avoid honest debate on the real issues surrounding veterans’ health care.”
The move came in response to comments from former VA Secretary David Shulkin, fired by President Donald Trump over Twitter less than two weeks ago.
In an op-ed just hours after his dismissal, Shulkin warned of individuals within the White House who “seek to privatize veteran health care as an alternative to government-run VA care.”...
This is a big year for the Montana ballot, including a significant pay increase for state legislators.
By Colby Itkowitz
The tobacco industry (click here) has spent more than $9 million to date to persuade Montana voters to vote "no" on a ballot initiative to make Medicaid expansion permanent in the state, according to state campaign finance filings.
The reason that tobacco companies want to prevent low-income Montanans from accessing health coverage? The industry would have to pay for it.
In November, Montana voters will get to choose whether to increase taxes on all tobacco products to fund Medicaid expansion and other health programs. Advocates of the "Healthy Montana Initiative" argue that smoking contributes to a range of illnesses, so the industry producing them should help bear the burden of increased health-care costs.
Under the Affordable Care Act, states are allowed to expand their Medicaid programs to cover people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $16,000 a year. The federal government paid 100 percent of expansion costs through 2016. Since then, federal funding has been tapering off and by 2020 the states will have to pay 10 percent of the cost of any Medicaid expansion....
...Earlier this year, with no sign that the state legislature would act to reauthorize the Medicaid expansion, a number of health organizations, including the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the Montana Hospital Association, as well as providers across the state, collected enough signatures to secure a ballot initiative known as I-185 that allows voters to determine the future of the Medicaid program....
The tobacco lobbyists in Montana are not following the rules.
September 10, 2018
Montana's campaign regulator (click here) says two tobacco companies opposing a ballot initiative registered late and failed to report a campaign expense.
Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan wrote in a decision last week that Altria Client Services and RAI Services Company registered as incidental political committees two days late in June. They also failed to report the travel expenses of a representative who appeared before the Montana Chamber of Commerce.
The companies represent the makers of Marlboro and Camel cigarettes and report spending $8.8 million on the Montanans Against Tax Hikes committee that opposes the initiative to raise the state's tobacco tax. The initiative seeks to raise the state's tax on a pack of cigarettes by $2 to $3.70, on snuff to at least $3.70 per 1.2-ounce can and tax e-cigarettes and vaping products for the first time....
There seems to be some reporting by the "Washington Examiner" stating Senator Tester has a great deal of cash in his campaign coffers. I would hope so because Jon Tester's campaign is a bit frugal in that he spends what he has to and saves some in case he needs it.
According to "Open Secrets" (click here) he raised about $16.5 million and spent less than $10.5 million. His donations are all reported and while he has significant monies yet to spend if he needs it; there is nothing wrong nefarious going on.
Voter turnout in Montana has been interesting. When Senator Jon Tester ran in 2012, voter turnout was 72.18 percent of all registered voters of which there are 681,608. That was an exceptionally high turnout for Montana elections. I suggest his campaign seek to repeat that turnout. That level of participation occurred in Montana in the presidential election year of 2008 and 2016; but, otherwise Montana has about 55 percent participation.
The tobacco lobbyists in Montana are not following the rules.
September 10, 2018
Montana's campaign regulator (click here) says two tobacco companies opposing a ballot initiative registered late and failed to report a campaign expense.
Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan wrote in a decision last week that Altria Client Services and RAI Services Company registered as incidental political committees two days late in June. They also failed to report the travel expenses of a representative who appeared before the Montana Chamber of Commerce.
The companies represent the makers of Marlboro and Camel cigarettes and report spending $8.8 million on the Montanans Against Tax Hikes committee that opposes the initiative to raise the state's tobacco tax. The initiative seeks to raise the state's tax on a pack of cigarettes by $2 to $3.70, on snuff to at least $3.70 per 1.2-ounce can and tax e-cigarettes and vaping products for the first time....
There seems to be some reporting by the "Washington Examiner" stating Senator Tester has a great deal of cash in his campaign coffers. I would hope so because Jon Tester's campaign is a bit frugal in that he spends what he has to and saves some in case he needs it.
According to "Open Secrets" (click here) he raised about $16.5 million and spent less than $10.5 million. His donations are all reported and while he has significant monies yet to spend if he needs it; there is nothing wrong nefarious going on.
Voter turnout in Montana has been interesting. When Senator Jon Tester ran in 2012, voter turnout was 72.18 percent of all registered voters of which there are 681,608. That was an exceptionally high turnout for Montana elections. I suggest his campaign seek to repeat that turnout. That level of participation occurred in Montana in the presidential election year of 2008 and 2016; but, otherwise Montana has about 55 percent participation.
