Tester: Proposed Health Care Plan Would Harm Montana

Congressional Budget Office Report Reveals 22 Million Americans Would Lose Coverage

(U.S. Senate) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester released the following statement after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office issued its evaluation of the unpopular Senate health care overhaul:

“This score confirms what Montanans have told me as I’ve traveled across the state: this plan is a disaster. Seniors will face an age tax, thousands of Montanans will lose coverage, and our rural hospitals will be put on the brink of closure, all for the sake of tax cuts for large corporations. Enough is enough, it’s time for Congress to work together in a bipartisan manner to improve affordability and accessibility for all Americans.”

The CBO report indicates that the so-called Better Care Reconciliation Act will:

• Leave 22 million more uninsured Americans over the next decade.
• Cut $772 billion from Medicaid.
• Cut $541 billion in taxes for corporations and the extremely wealthy.

The Better Care Reconciliation Act will also:

• Threaten coverage for people with pre-existing conditions like high-blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes.
• Raise long-term out-of-pocket health care costs, like premiums and deductibles.
• Jeopardize small community hospitals by increasing uncompensated care and bad debt.
• Allow insurers to waste your money on administrative costs instead of on your health care costs. 
• Risk reinstating annual & lifetime caps on health care coverage.
• Cost Montana taxpayers millions in savings from Medicaid expansion. 

Tester has held over a dozen face-to-face health care listening sessions and town halls on the subject. Additionally, Tester will be holding a Facebook Live town hall Tuesday at 6 p.m. MDT.