New Op-Ed: “On Health Care, Take Tim Sheehy At His Word”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, September 29, 2024
CONTACT
rehm@mtdems.org
“When Sheehy said, ‘we need to return health care to pure privatization,’ believe him”
Helena, MT – Ahead of Monday’s U.S. Senate debate, Montana Democratic Party Executive Director Sheila Hogan called out Tim Sheehy’s health care record in a new op-ed.
Hogan laid out Sheehy’s disastrous “pure privatization” health care plan, outlining how his plan would raise costs for Montanans by eliminating health insurance protections for those with pre-existing conditions and shuttering rural hospitals across Montana.
Read more below:
Billings Gazette: On health care, take Tim Sheehy at his word
September 28, 2024
Sheila Hogan, Montana Democratic Party Executive Director
On Monday, Montanans will be watching the next United States Senate debate. And viewer beware: When it comes to Tim Sheehy, Montanans will need to discern his lies from the truth.
It’s often said in politics that what people say when they think no one is listening is what they truly believe. At a closed-door campaign event, Sheehy told a room — without a reporter in sight — his vision for health care: “pure privatization.”
His direct quote?: “In my opinion, we need to return health care to pure privatization.” Then he went further, advocating for a time in the United States before health insurance even existed — and only those who could afford a private doctor got the care they needed. “Health care worked before health insurance existed. Each town had a doctor that would drive to your house, take care of you and you’d pay him,” Sheehy said. “And guess what? It worked. It worked when you actually paid a doctor for services provided.”
Sheehy’s health insurance plan works for multimillionaires who can afford to pay for their health care out-of-pocket, not for working families.
Sheehy’s health care plan would be a disaster. “Pure privatization,” leaving health care to the whims of private companies, means the elimination of federal funding for health care. Many Montanans rely on health care through the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid. If health care returned to “pure privatization,” these programs would cease to exist. In fact, 650,000 Montanans would lose their health insurance — that’s more than half of our state’s population.
Under Sheehy’s plan, insurance companies would be allowed to deny coverage to 152,000 Montanans with pre-existing conditions. For families navigating cancer treatment or children struggling with asthma, this plan would be catastrophic.
And, our hospitals rely on federal health care subsidies to operate. Without these subsidies, 49 rural hospitals would be forced to close their doors. If these hospitals shutter, rural Montanans would have to drive hours to seek the care they need — putting lives in jeopardy. Did Sheehy offer a plan for how he would prevent these closures without subsidies? No, he did not.
Now, Sheehy is doing everything he can to hide his comments from you. He is flooding your TVs with ads that lie about his record. And he’s certain to lie to you on the debate stage, just a few days from now.
But, you know the truth. When Sheehy said, “we need to return health care to pure privatization,” believe him. Because we show our true selves when we think no one else is listening.
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