The Flathead Valley’s Leading Independent Journal of Observation, Analysis, & Opinion

10 April 2009

Reds, Republicans, and health insurance for children

UPDATE, 13 April 2009, on Windy Boy’s defection.

Yesterday, the Republican controlled Montana senate voted not to fully fund the Healthy Montana Kids Plan Act, the ballot measure (I-155) that voters approved last fall by a margin of better than two to one. Earlier in the session, the house found a way to fully fund the program, which provides health insurance for low income children. The difference between the two chambers amounts, say Democrats, to 15,000 children who could be covered, but won’t if the GOP prevails.

Last fall, the Schweitzer adminstration last fall estimated that I-155 would cost Montana’s taxpayers $22 million, but also would attract approximately $70 million in federal funding for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Ostensibly, the GOP’s rationale for reducing funding for the program is fiscal responsibility. The program’s true cost is $100 million per year, they argue, and Montana just cannot afford such pricey programs with the economy worsening and projected tax revenues decreasing.

Some GOP senators may actually believe that — but those arguments are oats that have passed through the horse. Money is an issue, but fear of spending too much is not what’s really driving Republican opposition to providing health insurance for more low income children.

What really motivates Montana’s Republicans on I-155 is a visceral fear that the program is another step on the road to socialized medicine, such as Medicare. What shimmers brightest in the imagination of these legislators is not images of children suffering from lack of health insurance, but harrowing images of citizens banding together as a government to provide for their common needs; visions of torch carrying Bolsheviks, Reds, Scandinavian Socialists, and French bureaucrats, all hellbent on burning down America’s incomparable private health care system that has left 45 million uninsured.

And some have said as much. Writing just before the election, Mike Dennison reported that:

While I-155 has no organized opposition, some Republican state legislators are speaking out against it, saying it’s too costly and a step toward “socialized medicine.”

“We’re expending money for people who make more dollars than those who are really low-income,” says Rep. John Sinrud, R-Bozeman. “You’re going to end up putting more and more money into it, because people are so dependent on it. It’s just a total incrementalism (toward) socialized medicine.” From I-155: Full effect won’t be felt for 2-3 years, 29 October 2008. Full text (PDF).

Windy Boy’s defection, Zinke’s disappointment

Democratic senator Jonathan Windy Boy (Box Elder) qualified for an especially swift kick in his southern exposure by voting to gut I-155. His vote made the difference because two Republican senators, Joe Balyeat (Bozeman) and Greg Hinkle (Thompson Falls) voted against the budget. According to the Billings Gazette, Windy Boy:

…a member of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe on the Rocky Boys Indian Reservation, said he supported the bill because of an amendment added Thursday that allows Indian tribes to maintain control over some foster care contracts with the state.

“There are a lot of philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans, but I think (the stimulus bill) does help alleviate some of the problems,” he said. “We’ll figure out a way in two years to make things whole.”

The Republicans knew his price. It was cheap.

UPDATE: My ire at Windy Boy’s selfish vote increased after reading the Great Falls Tribune’s account of his rational for selling I-155 down the river. “As an Indian legislator,” he said, “my vote is no longer going to be taken for granted.” Well, on I-155, why the hell shouldn’t his vote be taken for granted? On I-155’s website, he’s listed as a member of the leadership committee.

Windy Boy’s vote will have consequences — some of the 15,000 children who would have been covered by the measure will become ill or suffer injuries, and not be able to afford medical treatment, with predicable outcomes. When that happens, Windy Boy will share some of the responsibility for the results of denying these children health insurance.

But for Windy Boy, political consequences seem unlikely. Like Joe Lieberman, he’s someone most party elders prefer to keep inside the tent, where he’ll usually vote for Democratic legislation, than outside the tent, where he may cast stones at donkeys. Therefore, Windy Boy, is not likely to be censured privately or publicly by any entity of the Democratic Party. But he still deserves that swift kick.

Zinke’s retreat from common sense

Whitefish Republican senator Ryan Zinke, a retired career naval officer, was less popular in his Whitefish and Columbia Falls district than I-155, which received 1,226 more votes than Zinke. I had some hope for Zinke, who does not always vote in lockstep with his Republican colleagues. He voted to repeal the death penalty, for example. But the clearly expressed desire of his district notwithstanding, he exercised unhealthy judgment, voting not to fully fund the Healthy Montana Kids Plan Act.