Gross distortions of reality used to be reserved for political season. Now that they are the staff of everyday life, it’s difficult to know when to crank up the fact checking. (more…) Continue Reading →
Blowing up one election myth
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Medicaid
Recent Posts
Opinion: Funding cuts would hamstring Alzheimer’s care
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Last March, Gov. Steve Bullock was presented with the Montana Alzheimer’s and Dementia State Plan, which is a direct call to action to improve dementia care in communities throughout our state. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Alzheimer's disease, Medicaid, Montana Legislature, Steve Bullock
Opinion: Medicaid cuts to in-home care shortsighted
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As representatives of agencies providing home and community-based services across the state for Medicaid recipients, including Montana’s older adult population and those with physical, mental and developmental disabilities, we are greatly concerned by the proposed cuts that will affect the Montana citizens who most need these services. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Medicaid, Social services, State government
Opinion: Medicaid cuts would badly damage public schools
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Yesterday, as every day, teachers called the names of more than 140,000 students, as they took attendance in Montana’s 821 public schools. For the thousands of children who file into our classrooms, school is more than a place to learn. In-school programs and practices ensure children across the state stay healthy, well fed, safe and enriched. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, School Administrators of Montana
Prairie Lights: Despair no more, Legislature LXIV explained
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Now that the 2015 Montana Legislature has adjourned, lots of regular Montanans are confused about what actually happened in Helena, which coincidentally is the condition a good many legislators found themselves in when it was finally over. The 64th session, or Legislature LXIV as fans of state government affectionately call it, featured a raft of complicated legislation, parliamentary maneuvering worthy of Machiavelli and the usual ration of ding-dong bills meant to deal with life-or-death issues like yoga pants. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Prairie Lights, Agenda 21, Doc Moore, Machiavelli, Medicaid, Montana Legislature, Steve Bullock
Anatomy of a failed Tea Party strategy
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Eric Stern, Montana’s deputy secretary of state, has written a good piece in Salon about why the Koch brothers’ well-publicized attempt to torpedo Medicaid expansion in Montana failed so spectacularly. The piece is a few days old now (and was published one day before Gov. Steve Bullock signed into law a piece of legislation also hated by the Kochs’ minions) and it is obviously very partisan, but I think Stern is mostly right. His main point is that the anti-Medicaid campaign was so clearly run by out-of-state stooges that it offended regular Montanans. Who likes being hectored, lectured and talked down to by a bunch of punks in suits—punks who can’t even be bothered to know, within a million or two, what the population of Montana is? Stern also makes this good point:
“Tea Party threats aren’t what they used to be. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Eric Stern, Koch brothers, Medicaid, Montana Legislature, Sarah Laszloffy, Steve Bullock
Looking south for legislative diversion
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State Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville, said he got the idea for his bill to put new restrictions on food stamps from talking to store clerks. He said cashiers told him people were using food stamps for soda pop, frozen pizza and energy drinks, among other items he deemed innutritious. (more…) Continue Reading →
