Congressman Dennis Rehberg has a knack for letting his party's soundbites get in the way of solutions-and facts.
He tells Montanans what we want to hear about bi-partisanship and working together, but his record tells a very different story. And when he tells us he'll never vote to undermine Medicare, we will remind him that it's too late.
Earlier this year, Congressman Rehberg tried to repeal and defund the health care reform bill-a measure that strengthened Medicare and closed the Medicare "donut hole," making prescription drugs cheaper for more than 12,000 Montana seniors.
Last year, nearly 11,500 Montana Seniors received $250 checks to help them pay for prescription drugs. Congressman Rehberg then tried to cover his base by saying the health care bill somehow cut Medicare funding.
But Politifact.com, an independent, Pulitzer-prize winning fact-checking website, debunked Congressman Rehberg's talking point as "false." So will anyone else who actually reads the bill.
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Here is what is not false: Congressman Rehberg's defunding scheme would have disrupted Medicare coverage to nearly 25,000 Montana seniors, according to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Kaiser Family Foundation. He backed a plan that would have denied free preventative care for almost 160,000 seniors in our state.
He backed a plan that would have kept the Medicare donut hole wide open-a move that would have cost Montana seniors an additional $138 million through 2020.
And the plan Congressman Rehberg supported would have stripped Medicare coverage for asbestos victims in Libby.
Maybe Congressman Rehberg didn't take these inconvenient facts into account. Maybe they don't matter to him. Either way, his irresponsible plan would have ended Medicare as we know it for thousands of Montana seniors. That's hardly a responsible solution to our broken health care system.
Congressional Republicans recently introduced a plan to replace Medicare with a private voucher system, effectively ending Medicare as we know it.
There is a common thread between Congressman Rehberg's defund scheme and his party's plan to end Medicare as we know it: They both favor big insurance companies over Montana seniors who are counting on quality health care once they retire. Both plans are out-of-touch, and not on the side of Montana.
Now that the dust has settled from his failed attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act, Congressman Rehberg is trying to split the difference, and he's coming up with nothing at all.
- Marian Jensen is a retired college administrator and seniors advocate in Butte.
