PRESS RELEASE
Independent Seth Bodnar Releases His "Montana First Health Care Agenda" to Lower Costs, Expand Access, Take on Corruption, and Protect Rural Health
MISSOULA, MT — Former Green Beret and Independent candidate for U.S. Senate Seth Bodnar today unveiled his "Montana First: Health Care Agenda", a comprehensive plan to lower what Montana families pay for coverage, care, and prescriptions, and to fix a system in which Americans spend nearly twice per person what other wealthy nations spend and get shorter lives in return.
Read the Montana First Health Care Agenda HERE.
In his agenda, Bodnar argues that Washington has treated health care as a contest of bumper stickers for more than a decade, and that the broken politics of Washington means politicians have decided the fight is worth more to them than the fix. Bodnar's plan is built on four core principles: a coverage option for every American without losing choice or competition; paying the system for keeping people healthy, not only for treating them once they are sick; reining in the middlemen and corruption that drive up costs; and cutting the administrative waste that keeps care from the patients it was built to serve.
"Montanans should not have to choose between paying for a doctor’s appointment and paying their mortgage, and nobody should have to fight their own insurance company for care they already pay for," said Bodnar. "Every Montanan deserves a coverage option they can afford, a health care system that gets rewarded when it keeps folks healthy, and an Independent senator willing to take on the drug companies, the insurance company middlemen, and the paperwork that drive up what we all pay. As Montana’s Independent voice, I will work with anyone in either party who is willing to do what’s right for Montanans, and I'll say no to both of them when they aren’t."
Key planks of Bodnar's Montana First Health Care Agenda include:
Restoring and extending the ACA tax credits for the more than 70,000 Montanans who buy their own coverage, and guaranteeing that no Montanan is ever again denied coverage or charged more because of a pre-existing condition.
Expanding Medicare's drug price negotiation, which delivered the first ten drugs at 38 to 79 percent cheaper, well past the early rounds and out to high-cost drugs administered in a doctor's office.
Capping insulin and other lifesaving drugs at $35 a month for every Montanan, not only those on Medicare, and forcing pharmacy benefit managers to disclose what they charge Montana pharmacies and patients.
Putting teeth in hospital and insurer price transparency rules and fixing the surprise billing system that has become a windfall for hospitals and insurers instead of a protection for patients.
Blocking cuts and cost shifts to Medicare, including any push to raise the eligibility age, and ending prior authorization delays for care seniors have already paid for.
Repealing or fixing the new Medicaid reporting rules that knock eligible Montanans off coverage, in a state where 72 percent of enrollees already work and another 4 percent are in school, and protecting the Medicaid coverage that pays for nursing home and in-home care.
Ending the chronic underpayment of rural providers that is closing service lines at Montana's roughly 50 rural hospitals, nearly two-thirds of which have already cut services, and protecting ambulance and air ambulance access.
Recruiting the next generation of rural providers through loan repayment, rural residency programs, and real incentives to practice in small towns.
Rebuilding VA care for Montana's roughly 86,000 veterans by reversing staffing cuts, growing the Community Care Network, finishing implementation of the PACT Act, and meeting the needs of women veterans.
Fully funding the Indian Health Service and Tribal health systems with funding Tribal nations can count on, and giving Tribal nations a real say in how federal health dollars are spent in Indian Country.
Treating mental health and addiction as the crisis it is in a state where about six in ten Montanans live without real access to mental health care, by building behavioral health into primary care and schools.
Bodnar’s “Montana First” Platform also includes a pledge to protect Montanans from the threats of Big Tech, AI and data centers; a comprehensive plan to fight corruption, ban Congressional stock trading, and eliminate dark money in politics; a plan to restore VA care, expand mental health services, and support veteran entrepreneurs and small business owners; and a plan to Make the Montana Way of Life a Reality again by building homes Montanans can afford, defending our public lands and the Second Amendment, honoring Tribal nations, protecting reproductive freedom, and protecting Social Security and Medicare.
Seth Bodnar is a Green Beret, business leader, and former president of the University of Montana running for the U.S. Senate to be an independent voice for Montana. Seth is guided by a lifelong commitment to duty, honor, and country. He graduated first in his class at West Point and served multiple overseas deployments, leading soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Special Forces Group, and serving as a special advisor to the commanding general in Iraq. After his military service and a successful career in business, Seth spent the last eight years leading the University of Montana. Under his leadership, the university achieved record high graduation rates, doubled research funding, launched the largest infrastructure renewal in campus history, restored financial stability, and was named the #1 military-friendly university in the country. Raised by two public school teachers, he believes leadership is about service, not party loyalty. Seth and his wife, a fifth-generation Montanan, are raising their three children in Montana.