Transparency in Legislator Healthcare

Earlier this session, Republicans created a storm of controversy all throughout the state when it was discovered that Republican lawmakers who were attempting to make it more difficult for Montanans to get healthcare, were accepting taxpayer funded healthcare. Predictably, this hypocrisy on the part of the GOP did not sit well with Montanans.

In response to this hypocrisy, Sen. Anders Blewett (D-Great Falls) introduced a bill that would require lawmakers disclose if they are accepting taxpayer funded health care. Blewett’s goal with this bill is to improve transparency of government. He believes that Montanans deserve to know what benefits lawmakers are receiving from taxpayers.

Blewett also conceded that this bill might serve to highlight some legislative hypocrisy, when lawmakers take taxpayer funded health insurance and attempt to deny health insurance to Montanans.

This bill was heard today in Senate State Administration Committee. The committee will likely take action on this bill later this week. If approved it would face a vote from the full house within the next week.