RIGHT ON HEALTHCARE
Montana’s tight-knit communities always help each other through hard times. But often the biggest barrier in the way of delivering affordable, quality healthcare to help our communities is our broken healthcare system.
THE MISSION
The Frontier Institute partners with Right on Healthcare, a national initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation to lower health care costs, increase access, and ensure every American is in charge of their own individual or family medical decisions.
When the insurance companies and the government are in control, the result is always higher costs, less access, lower quality, and worse results.
To develop an effective system that prioritizes the needs of patients, Right on Health Care is committed to the following principles:
→ Individuals and families should control their own health care decisions.
→ Patients should know what medical services cost before they are performed.
→ Health insurance should return to helping Americans manage long-term and emergency health risks, not act as pre-pay plans for medical care.
→ Americans should have access to a wide variety of options to cover medical expenses that meet their personal and financial needs.
Right on Healthcare has developed five specific 2021 legislative priorities to lower health care costs for Montanans:
Expand Telemedicine: Telemedicine offers a convenient and safe alternative to traveling long distances to see a doctor. Montana should permanently eliminate regulations waived during the coronavirus outbreak that increased telemedicine access and lower costs.
Repeal Certificate of Need Laws: Montana’s CON program has been a disaster during the pandemic – increasing costs, limiting access and even costing lives. Repealing this harmful program could help reduce costs and boost much needed hospital capacity.
Protect Direct Primary Care: Direct Primary Care (DPC) has proven to be a transparent, low cost option of quality healthcare for Montanans since being authorized in 2017. DPC Memberships are arrangements for care between patients and their doctors, not insurance. Legislation is needed to permanently authorize DPC and other Direct Care arrangements.
Allow Physicians to Dispense Medicine: Montana is one of only five states that does not allow physicians to directly dispense medications to patients. Doing so not only cuts down wait times at pharmacies, but studies show it increases adherence rates, improves patient health, and reduces the use of emergency care if they’ve had an adverse reaction, lowering costs.
Increase Medicaid Health Care Options: Montana should request a waiver to use Medicaid funds for expanding the number of choices patients have for receiving care, such as direct primary care. This would directly relieve stress and crowding at hospitals that contribute to the spread of disease, helping to lower healthcare costs.