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Eye on Healthcare

Special Report: Eye on Health Care - PART IV

Posted: Nov 24, 2011 9:03 AM by Marnee Banks (KXLH Helena)
Updated: Nov 24, 2011 9:33 AM


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HELENA- President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in March, 2010 and it's now one of the most politically charged issues the U.S. is facing. Montana's News Station is taking an in-depth look at the Act and how it's affecting Montana in a four-part series called "Eye on Health Care".

We talked with all three of Montana's Congressional delegates and asked them to weigh in on the Affordable Care Act in the last part of our special series.

"The point of health care reform, one of the main points is starting to get a handle on the costs of health care," Senator Max Baucus commented.

Baucus sponsored the Affordable Care Act and he says the best way to control health care costs is to reform the health insurance industry.

Which is exactly what the bill did by requiring companies to lower their administrative costs while providing more coverage.

But, Montana Representative Denny Rehberg argues the law did little to nothing to address increasing costs of medical procedures, prescription drugs, and hospital stays.

"Yes, there are some good things in the bill, and there are some bad things in the bill. But ultimately it did not control the cost of health care," Rehberg said.

"What's honest and right is to reform the health insurance industry. By keeping our eye on those major objectives, getting costs down, and the health insurance industry being reformed so people have higher quality health insurance, people pretty soon are going to realize that hey this might have made sense after all," Baucus told us.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reports 34% of Americans have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act, the lowest number since the law was passed. While the survey attributes this to wavering support among Democrats, Senator Jon Tester still supports the reform.

"I think the more the health care bill gets implemented that people will see the advantages of it."

The Affordable Care Act is no doubt controversial and now that Rehberg is challenging Tester to his seat in the Senate the health care debate is expected to heat up even more.

"There is no doubt this will be a campaign issue. There is a fundamental difference of philosophy between Jon Tester and myself," Rehberg pointed out.

"Oh I think there is a whole lot of areas we differ on, all you have to do is look at the record and I think this is probably going to be part of the debate but the debate is much bigger than health care," Tester stated.

Some portions of the Affordable Care Act are being challenged in court and both candidates agree the decision will shape the 2012 campaign.

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