Reichner's Medicaid reform bill is dead

A Medicaid reform bill sponsored by Rep. Scott Reichner, R-Bigfork, never got off the ground.

Reichner planned to introduce the legislation Wednesday, March 27, but told the Bigfork Eagle that he nixed that plan due to a lack of support in the Republican caucus.

“It was just a delicate subject and we couldn’t come to agreement,” he said, noting the proposal wasn’t supported by a majority of the House GOP’s members.

“There’s a big part of the caucus that wants to reject Medicaid expansion altogether. My bill would have pushed people to the exchanges.

“Sometimes (ideas) maturate and sometimes they don’t,” Reichner said.

Reichner’s proposal would not have used federal funds to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Rather it would give poor uninsured Montanans state funds to buy private health insurance through the new federal exchange set to come online later this year. Reichner’s proposal also would have used revenue from the pending buyout of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, according to the Montana Standard.

Reichner said his bill was an alternative to Medicaid expansion. Initially the federal government would pay for 100 percent of the Medicaid expansion from 2014-2016, but the percentage would decline gradually to 90 percent by 2020 and to an unknown number after that.

House Speaker Mark Blasdel, R-Somers, previously said that any Medicaid expansion would not get through the House due to overwhelming Replublican opposition.

The GOP has a 61-39 advantage in the House.