Rally for care - Bus tour, I-155 backers tout need for health coverage reform
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
A Montana effort to improve children's health insurance coverage dovetails with a national campaign to challenge the health care status quo.
A couple of Democratic state office candidates joined Service Employees International Union members for a “Road to American Health Care” rally in front of the Missoula County Courthouse on Monday morning. While the national union crew was criticizing Republican presidential candidate John McCain, the Montana candidates stumped for the I-155 “Healthy Montana Kids” ballot initiative.
“Montana is at the back of the pack in terms of providing coverage for kids,” state Auditor John Morrison said. “Congress is ready to authorize increased funding for children's health insurance. But in order to take advantage of that, we need a bigger catcher's mitt. I-155 will dovetail with that by allowing us to draw down the maximum amount of federal funds.”
“Montana is at the back of the pack in terms of providing (health) coverage for kids,” state Auditor John Morrison said Monday morning at a pro Initiative 155 rally at the Missoula County Courthouse. I-155 would expand eligibility for Children's Health Insurance Program coverage. Photo by MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian
Morrison is also chairman of I-155's campaign committee. He said SEIU's organization had contributed $20,000 to the Montana initiative as well as bringing the bus tour to raise public awareness. Statewide Democratic candidates Steve Bullock (attorney general) and Monica Lindeen (auditor) offered their support to the initiative as well.
“I-155 would leverage three or four federal dollars for every one Montana dollar for children's health insurance,” Lindeen said. “The stars are lined up now to do what's right. If not now, when do we do this?”
I-155 would expand eligibility for Children's Health Insurance Program coverage and make it easier for institutions like hospitals and schools to help get children enrolled. It would also increase state matching funds to bring in the maximum amount of federal State Children's Health Insurance Program dollars.
SEIU has mounted a couple of campaigns this summer as the presidential race heated up. In July, the union held rallies protesting the tax-code tactics of private equity buyout firms. It claimed firms like the Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts financed their corporate takeovers with debt the owners later deducted against their corporate taxes to huge profit.
In Missoula, SEIU spokeswoman Jacquie Helt aimed her criticism at McCain's health care proposals. Helt said the Republican's plan would make it harder for low-income families to get insurance. She also attacked McCain's votes against the SCHIP funding bill that Congress passed but President Bush vetoed.
McCain regional campaign spokesman Tom Steward countered that the Republican's health care plan would be better for families because it would introduce more private competition into the market. Backed up with $5,000 tax deductions for family health care coverage, McCain's plan would drive down costs while making coverage more available, he said.
“John McCain thinks every American should have access to quality coverage of their choice, not the government's choice,” Steward said. As to McCain's opposition to SCHIP, Steward said McCain “thinks we can make health care more affordable and available without further government mandates. His thought is it's not a good idea to build on what the weaknesses are in the current system.”
While Helt did not mention Democratic nominee Barack Obama, she did say the union's effort was aimed at whomever gets in the White House next year. The problem with the failed health care reform effort of President Clinton's first term 16 years ago was that it missed the people who bore the burden of health care troubles.
“Our biggest goal, regardless of who is elected president, is to hold the president and Congress accountable for health care reform,” Helt said. “Not to take anything away from Hillary Clinton's efforts back then, but that effort was a completely political job. It wasn't a grass-roots organizing effort. The ingredient that was significantly missing in the 1990s was that no one remembered to talk to the people doing the work. We need to drill down into these different constituencies.”
Morrison predicted another difference between this year's health care campaign and the efforts of 16 years ago.
“What's changed is the political lineup,” Morrison said. “This time, many major corporations are shifting positions and backing the effort. They know they have to go global or die, and their competitors are having their health care costs covered somewhere else.”
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com.
