Tester to Work with Republicans and Democrats to Lower Health Care Costs

Senator to Senate Health Care Committee: I Am Eager to Share Montana Perspective

(Big Sandy, Mont.) – As the U.S. Senate finally schedules health care committee hearings, U.S. Senator Jon Tester is offering to work with Republicans and Democrats to lower health care costs for all Montanans.

In a letter to Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Tester emphasized the need for a transparent, bipartisan effort to improve the affordability and accessibility of health care in rural states like Montana. Tester is eager to join the bipartisan effort to improve America’s health care system.

“Health care is an issue that accounts for one-sixth of our nation’s economy and that touches the lives of every person,” Tester wrote. “Republicans, Democrats, and Independents should be working together in the light of day on something this big, and the hearings you recently announced are a positive step in this direction.”

Tester also offered to share the input he received from Montanans during his health care listening sessions.

“I have traveled around Montana and held numerous face-to-face listening sessions and town halls specifically to hear concerns about health care,” Tester added. “At every meeting, Montanans emphasized the need to lower premiums and deductibles to get a handle on prescription drug costs, and to keep rural clinics and hospitals open and operating. As you address our country’s health care needs, I am eager to share this Montana perspective with you.”

In the coming weeks, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will hold hearings and write legislation to improve the nation’s health care system. The first hearings are scheduled for the week of September 4th.

Tester has sponsored numerous bills to lower the cost of health insurance premiums, stabilize insurance markets, protect access to Medicaid, and bring down the cost of prescription drugs.

Tester’s letter to Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray is available HERE.