Bipartisan Medicaid fails on accidental vote

HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday that he will apply whatever pressure he can to resurrect the plan to use federal money to help the working poor buy insurance.

The governor's comments came on a day when backers said that defeat was near certain after a legislator accidentally voted the wrong way, and their coalition unraveled in a later do-over attempt.

The compromise plan to use Medicaid money to expand health care coverage through private insurers has been lurching toward approval with the backing of Democrats and some Republicans.

Conservative GOP leaders strongly opposed the plan. On Friday, House leaders beat back the measure in a couple of procedural House votes — including one where the accidental incorrect vote by Democratic Rep. Tom Jacobson of Great Falls proved the difference maker.

The events led to a lengthy mid-day recess while both sides reviewed procedural rules and Republicans successfully applied pressure to some of the dissenters in the ranks. A vote to reconsider failed 52-48.

Bullock said Republicans had used a "procedural gimmick" and "stood in the way of affordable health care for tens of thousands." The governor argued the measure has widespread support.

"Outside of this building virtually everyone gets it," Bullock said.

Bullock says "everything is on the table" to advance the plan with lawmakers scheduled to adjourn next week. He did not rule out a special session, which a governor can call for work on a specific item he selects.

The governor also did not rule out asking the voters to accept the plan with a ballot measure, a fallback option touted by some advocates who believe it would be relatively easy to gather enough signatures to qualify.

"We'll get there," Bullock confidently predicted.

"Be that next week or the weeks ahead," he said.

The plan would provide financial assistance to those making less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $15,000 for a single person, to buy health insurance on the federal exchange starting next year. The compromise, first developed in Arkansas, is aimed at finding support from Republicans opposed to the alternate plan to expand Medicaid coverage to the population.

House Minority Leader Chuck Hunter was resigned to defeat after setbacks on the two procedural motions. He said Republican leaders had successfully stuffed the bill into a committee that will lock it up until next week's anticipated close of the session.

A vote to grab the bill out of that committee takes support from 60 out of 100 House members — a threshold Democrats have already failed to reach several times this session over this proposal's stop-and-start lifespan. The GOP holds a 61-39 advantage in the chamber.

Hunter said the bill's tenuous coalition may have splintered even if Jacobsen had not accidentally voted incorrectly in a failed 50-50 vote to stop House Speaker Mark Blasdel's move to send the measure to committee.

Hunter noted that over the course of an ensuing hour-long break, the Democrats lost several Republican votes.

"We would have had to fight hard to retain votes even if we had been successful with the first vote," Hunter said. "It would have still required Republicans to stick with us under intense pressure from their party."

Jacobsen was downcast after the events. He said he misunderstood which sort of vote was needed on the motion in order to support the Medicaid bill.

"By the time I tried to switch the vote, the bell had rung and I was out of luck," Jacobsen said. "You can't take it back. They won't let you take is back."

The events overshadowed positive votes on several big pieces of legislation heading toward approval — including the main budget bill and a pay raise for state employees sought by Bullock.