Daines plans tele-town hall on health care bill

BILLINGS (AP) - Montana's Republican U.S. senator, Steve Daines, says he'll decide whether to support

his party's health care bill after hearing from constituents.

Daines will host a telephone town hall Wednesday on the Senate Republican proposal.

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester held a town hall meeting to talk about the bill Saturday in Great Falls.

At least five GOP senators have declared their opposition to the party's legislation to undo much of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul - more than enough to defeat the measure.

Daines criticized the U.S. House GOP's health care proposal after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that 14 million Americans would lose their coverage next year under the proposal.

"What Montanans have told me they want to see, first and foremost, is a reduction in premiums, the affordability question," Daines said Friday. "Number two, taking care of those with pre-existing conditions, that they have access to care and affordable care. And number three, very important for Montana is, we are one of the Medicaid expansion states, is that we save Medicaid and protect Medicaid."

Besides the five Republican senators who've announced outright opposition, several other GOP senators - conservatives and moderates - have declined to commit to the proposed overhaul.

The measure resembles legislation the House approved in May that the Congressional Budget Office said would mean 23 million additional uninsured people within a decade and that recent polling shows is viewed favorably by only around 1 in 4 Americans.

Tester has said the Senate bill would "rip away Medicaid from thousands of Montanans."

"This public town hall was another important opportunity to hear from the people of Montana about what's at risk if the Senate passes this reckless bill, which drives up health care costs, takes away coverage, and gives tax breaks to the very wealthy," Tester said in a release Saturday after his town hall meeting. "Health care impacts every man, woman, and child in our state and this legislation will take us back to the days where folks got sick and couldn't afford life-saving medical care.  We need to make improvements to our current health care system, not kick thousands off their health insurance plans and jack up rates for Montana families."

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Havre Daily News staff contributed to this report.