Tester talks health care, gun reform

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said during a conversation with the Daily Inter Lake editorial board on Friday that health care is the “number-one issue” he hears about in Montana.

“It would be fixed if there was an easy solution,” he said, but added “we’re not doing much policy” in Washington.

Tester said there needs to be more transparency in the health-care industry, from the cost of pharmaceuticals to hospitals being transparent about the cost of procedures.

“We’re really not in the habit of pricing [health care] like you’d buy a car,” he said.

Tester called mental health and suicide – Montana had the highest rate of suicide in the nation in 2017 – the “biggest challenge” in health care for “at least the next 50 years.” He said he is especially concerned by the large number of middle-aged people and high-school students dying by suicide.

Tester said the problem is compounded by a lack of psychiatrists and psychologists, especially in rural areas. He suggested government could provide tuition relief or other educational incentives to get more students in those fields.

He also said if prospective doctors were incentivized to take on a residency in a rural location, they would likely remain in that location for good. Tester had recent legislative success on this issue when the U.S. Senate passed his Restoring Rural Residencies Act, which allows Medicare to make reimbursements for the time residents spend training at Critical Access hospitals.

Dissatisfaction with the health-care industry and the suicide epidemic were clearly on the minds of attendees at Tester’s town-hall meeting Friday afternoon. A Flathead High School student’s question on suicide and another attendee’s question on the future of the Affordable Care Act both received significant applause.

Addressing the suicide question, Tester said he is pushing forward a bill on veterans’ mental health that would “help the VA [Veterans Affairs] hire people more efficiently and effectively” and “give servicemen … a year of VA health care automatically, no questions asked.”

He reiterated the need for more psychiatrists and psychologists to help people “when they get in crisis.

“I think you have a lot of clout,” he told the student. “I would try to get a group of students locally together, and then develop what you would like to see happen … and if you guys come up with some recommendations, my door is always open.”

As for the Affordable Care Act, which Tester voted for, he said it “was not perfect,” but said “people with pre-existing conditions or getting sick and hitting lifetime caps, those people have to be covered.” But he added that “the insurance companies took incredible advantage of us.

“We gave them so many more customers, and they just jacked the rates as much as they could. It drove me crazy,” he said.

“The devil’s always in the details, but there is a lot of support for a public option in the United States Senate and the House,” Tester said, and was met with applause.

Tester also addressed action on gun legislation and reiterated his support for background checks. He expressed his support for a Senate bill that would have required background checks to purchase a gun.

“If you’re afraid of a background check you probably shouldn’t have a gun,” he said.

He said the bill – which did not pass the Senate – would not have allowed criminals, the court-adjudicated mentally ill and people involved in terrorist activity from purchasing a gun.

He acknowledged the support for gun ownership in Montana, and said if we do nothing and there continues to be shootings, “it’s gonna give steam to the folks who really do want to take away our guns.

“I want common-sense gun reform,” he said.

When speaking with the Inter Lake editorial board, he said “the hardest meeting I’ve ever had in my life” was meeting with parents of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

He said it would be possible to get background checks done, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will not bring gun legislation to the floor, even following the momentum for gun reform that came after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

He told the board that currently the biggest issue in D.C. is “getting the budget done.” He said the Senate has gotten into the habit of “pushing it down the road.”

At the town hall, Tester said the Senate should take advantage of the House’s and Washington, D.C.’s focus on the impeachment inquiry.

“The Senate actually has a chance to get a lot of really good work done,” he said.

But Tester said not to expect any action on climate-change legislation. Responding to a question on climate change, Tester said “we [the Senate] can’t even get it to a committee to debate it.”

He said addressing climate change is “fiscally responsible,” as the U.S. government is paying millions of dollars to clean up after natural disasters.

“Mother Nature’s telling us to do something about it and we need to listen.”

Reporter Colin Gaiser may be reached at 758-4439 or cgaiser@dailyinterlake.com