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AARP AARP States Montana Advocacy

AARP Montana Stakes Out 2015 Legislative Agenda

2015 AARP Montana Legislative Agenda

AARP is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for all as we age so that people live with dignity and purpose and fulfill their goals and dreams. One of the ways AARP Montana pursues its mission is through advocacy. This agenda provides an overview of the key advocacy issues AARP Montana will advance in 2014, but is not inclusive of all bills or issues we may work on.

Montana State Capitol, Helena, MT
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Ensuring Health Security for More Montanans
• Covering 70,000 Montanans through expansion of Medicaid or health insurance. Montana has the opportunity to provide health care coverage to 70,000 low income people substantially paid for with federal funds.  Approximately 13,487  of these Montanans are between the ages of 50 and 64 --  a very risky time to be uninsured. Expansion means $5.4 billion of federal funds to our state’s economy in the next 6 years and an estimated 12,000 new jobs. By not moving forward, Montana is missing out on $1.84 million each day and leaving thousands of people uninsured. AARP MT will support bills that accept the new federal funds to get coverage to these 70,000 people through an expansion of Medicaid or through an insurance arrangement.
• Provide incentives to small businesses to continue offering health insurance. (Legislation requested by the Insurance Commissioner.)
• Improve process used by health insurers on treatment decisions, especially when life or death consequences. (Legislation requested by the Insurance Commissioner.)
• Aging services to help people stay in their homes and communities. AARP will ask the legislature to provide more home and community based services as an alternative to nursing home care in the Medicaid program. Additional funding for meals-on-wheels, respite care and other aging services to meet the needs of our rapidly aging population.

Improving the Ability of Montanans to be Financially Resilient
• Empower Attorney General to prevent and intervene in data breaches. (Legislation requested by Attorney General.)
• Protect and improve financial stability of public employee retirement systems.
• Strengthening Protections for Elderly Investors. (Legislation requested by Commissioner of Securities.)
• Affordable energy and telecommunications. Ensuring that providers of electricity, gas, landline, wireless, and broadband offer services customers can depend on and is affordable.

Protecting Montanans’ access to voting
• AARP MT supports Election Day Registration and on-line voter registration. We oppose bills that restrict voter participation.

Fighting for Budget and Tax Fairness
• AARP is committed to ensuring that reforms made to state tax structures are fair and safeguard the financial resiliency of the 50+ population. As Montana addresses both the revenue and spending sides of the budget, a balanced approach is essential.

To learn more about our issues and get involved with our efforts during the 2015 Montana Legislative Session, sign up to become an E-Activist at www.aarp.org/getinvolved.

 

Photo Credit: Jennifer Peck via Flickr

About AARP Montana
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