Rehberg: Health reform doesn't get at problem's root

Montanans are in a foul mood over federal health care legislation and a lack of attention toward economic recovery, the state’s lone congressman said during a stop in Kalispell Saturday.

And Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg is confident in his assessment of the public’s mood.

“I have had 44 or 45 town hall meetings over the last year, so I think I have a pretty good sense of what Montanans want,” said Rehberg, who was in Kalispell for a Republican Lincoln Day dinner.

Rehberg said he held 23 listening sessions on health care legislation specifically, and those meetings were open to “friend or foe,” unlike recent invitation-only meetings held by Montana’s Democratic Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester.

“I’m a little different than Max and John. I don’t do invitation-only meetings,” said Rehberg, who believes the two senators are at odds with most of their constituents in supporting the health care legislation recently signed into law.

As the legislation worked its way through Congress, Rehberg said, his offices were getting between 2,000 to 3,000 calls or e-mails per week, with just over 80 percent opposed to “Obamacare.”

A good indicator of Baucus’s position with constituents are recent radio and television advertisements the senator has been purchasing with campaign funds to defend the legislation, Rehberg said.

“He knows he’s contrary to a majority of Montanans on the issue ... and is now having to offset the damage, politically, through advertising,” Rehberg said.

Rehberg said Montana Republican legislators are right to be pushing the state’s attorney general, Steve Bullock, to join 18 other states in challenging federal health care legislation. Last week, more than 70 Republicans signed a letter to Bullock, claiming to represent a majority of Montanans on the issue.

“Most Montanans want an answer to that question — is this constitutional or not?” Rehberg said.

The biggest problem with the legislation, in Rehberg’s view, is that he believes it concentrates on health care insurance reforms rather than addressing the core problem of rising health care costs.

Rising insurance premiums, he said, are only a reflection of increasing health care costs and the legislation will not stop those costs from increasing.

Another central problem with the legislation is its sheer cost to the government and taxpayers, said Rehberg, who believes the actual costs will be far greater than projected by the Congressional Budget Office.

“Does anybody believe you can spend $1 trillion on health care and it’s not going to add to deficit? ... It is beyond belief,” Rehberg said.

He predicts anger over health care legislation will be a major driver in this year’s elections, but it may not be the only issue. If Democrats pursue “cap and trade” energy legislation and immigration reform, their election outlook could be worse than it is, he said.

Republicans will be campaigning as “a party of better solutions,” Rehberg said, citing GOP alternatives to last year’s stimulus legislation as an example.

“It did not work,” he said of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “Where are the jobs?”

The bill was passed with extreme urgency more than a  year ago, he said, yet only about 20 percent of stimulus funding has been spent, and what has been spent has primarily gone towards construction in public infrastructure projects and social spending.

Rehberg said he and many other Republicans favored the alternative of eliminating all payroll taxes on employers and employees for a year, or a 50 percent reduction over two years. That move would have given the private sector economy an immediate boost across the board, Rehberg said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com