Tester, Daines Pledge Cooperation On Health Care Bill

Montana Public Radio | By Eric Whitney

Published July 12, 2017 at 5:50 PM MDT

The Montana Healthcare Foundation says it's making grants available to support better healthcare for people with who have a combination of medical problems, mental illness and/or addiction.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’ll have an updated health care bill ready Thursday for the legislative body to work on.

In a press call with reporters, Montana’s Democratic Senator Jon Tester said he’s willing to work with Republicans on compromise health care legislation.

"I think I can work with anybody," Tester said. "I think there’s an opportunity to get things done here, but you need to go in with the goal of improving affordability and accessibility."

Tester says that he’s willing to cooperate, but not if it means using the health care bill the House passed in May as a foundation.

"If the price of admission is taking Medicaid expansion off the table and block-granting Medicaid, yeah, they gotta start over. Truth is, that isn’t going to get us where we need to be in this country," Tester said.

In an appearance on Northern Broadcasting Network’s Voices of Montana Tuesday, Republican Senator Steve Daines said, he, too is willing to reach across the aisle on the healthcare bill.

"Obviously. Of course, and we’ll need the Democrats to help us," he said.

Daines told Voices of Montana Host Jon Arneson that if the bill is going to pass, it will probably be with only Republicans voting for it, and it’s not clear that every Republican senator is willing to do so at this point.

"Whether or not that bill gets passed, Jon, I would say it’s even odds," Daines said.

An updated version of the Senate health care bill is expected to be released Thursday.