(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . No veto override for assisted living bill despite bipartisan support – Daily Montanan [1] ['Keila Szpaller', 'More From Author', '- June'] Date: 2023-06-16 A bill to help more people access assisted living didn’t clear a hurdle to become law, although 91 lawmakers voted to override its veto. “We came so close, and that just means that we’re onto something really good,” said Sen. Becky Beard, R-Elliston, who sponsored the bill. Last month, Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed Senate Bill 296, which would have helped more people who can’t stay home on their own anymore and pulled in more federal money. In his veto letter, Gianforte said he looked forward to signing increased Medicaid reimbursement rates for all providers — and he did so this week with the big budget bill — but he feared the longer term fiscal impacts of SB296. The governor, a Republican, also said it set up a “cumbersome process” for room and board rates, although supporters of the bill said it’s a common process in other states. In its last viewing in the House, the bill passed 91-8, and in its last appearance in the Senate, it passed 32-18. But results of a poll of legislators to overcome the veto show the override failed even though most lawmakers still supported it. It received 32 “yes” votes in the Senate and 59 “yes” votes in the House, according to online results from the Montana Secretary of State’s Office. So it didn’t get two thirds support in either chamber, and meeting that threshold in both chambers is required by law. Altogether, 21 lawmakers didn’t return their ballots by the June 15 deadline at all, including 17 representatives. In a phone call, Beard said it’s not surprising so many legislators didn’t return their ballots with summer vacations, weddings and funerals on their calendars. She said she’d like to raise the topic again in the 2025 legislative session and look more at the socioeconomic demographics of the people served by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. After World War II, she said a strong middle class existed: “And we learned that after World War II, everybody started getting a piece of the pie because we were all working hard.” During the years, she said a prominent upper-class population emerged, but a growing number of income-earners needs assistance. “That is indicative of how much people are relying on the government instead of their own opportunities and initiative,” Beard said. A Pew Research Report from 2022 notes the middle class has contracted during the last five decades. It also said the rise in income during that period was steepest for upper-income households and increased 69%. The report noted the share of adults 65 years and older in the lower-income tier in the U.S. fell from 54% in 1971 to 37% in 2021. However, it also said they are the only age group in which more than one-in-three are in lower-income households. Economists differ about the best ways to revive the middle class. A 2020 piece in the Atlantic cited ideas from across the political spectrum, such as universal health care; support for child care for working families; closing tax loopholes that benefit select companies; cutting regulations; reparations to descendants of enslaved people; and overhauling immigration policies. (The piece was an adaption from Jim Tankersley’s book, “The Riches of this Land: The Untold, True Story of America’s Middle Class.”) SB 296 would have done a couple of things. It would have shifted people on a waiting list for an assisted living facility from one waiver program to a different program with a higher federal match, and pulled in more federal money. It also would have set up a process for regularly increasing room and board payments as Social Security increases because Medicaid doesn’t cover those costs. Even though Beard said she isn’t a fan of spending state or federal tax dollars, she said her bill would have offered a stopgap for people who are falling through the cracks through no fault of their own. “Many of them perhaps thought they had savings they could live on, and something happened. Life happened. And they don’t have an avenue anymore,” Beard said. Rose Hughes, executive director for the Montana Health Care Association, earlier estimated the savings from the bill would hit $6,500 per year, per person. She also said it would have allowed people who choose assisted living to stay in their community and receive only the services they need — rather than end up in a nursing home, which offers more care than they need at a higher cost. In an email Friday, Hughes said the association is disappointed SB 296 will not become law. “It represents good public policy and would have helped older Montanans get the services they need while at the same time providing savings to the state general fund,” Hughes said. “We are pleased, though, with the level of support we received from legislators who voted to override. “It is important that a significant bipartisan majority — 60% of the legislature — still supports this legislation and believes this is good policy. “Of course, the administration can implement these policies without legislation, so we are hoping they will take a harder look at the benefits of moving forward. We will continue to pursue this with the administration and with the next legislature if needed.” Beard said things need to change, and she’ll continue to pursue the idea too. She wants people to be self-sufficient. “I really applaud the executive for wanting to get people migrated off assistance, but we need to change the policies, and as our governor says, it’s step by step, three-yard plays at every opportunity, and this was one of those plays. And he vetoed it,” Beard said. But she said it isn’t over, and supporters can take lessons from failure this time. “We learned, and we will do better and be stronger next go round,” Beard said. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/06/16/no-veto-override-for-assisted-living-bill-despite-bipartisan-support/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/