From the Montana Republican Legislative Campaign Committee:

Republican leaders have sent a letter to the Governor’s Budget Director and Legislative Fiscal Division asking that they conduct an in-depth analysis of impacts the new federal health care reform legislation will have on Montana. The letter was signed by Senate President Bob Story, Senate Majority Leader Jim Peterson, and House Republican Leader Scott Sales.

In the letter the Republicans noted that, early estimates indicate that as many as 100,000 Montanans could be added to the Medicaid program. They asked Budget Director David Ewer and LFD what the long-term and the short-term cost to the state to deal with this increased caseload will be.

“Given the state’s current fiscal situation and the number of new mandates in the federal legislation we feel it is prudent to start figuring just how much this bill is going to cost Montana taxpayers,” said Senate Majority Leader Jim Peterson. “We’re already facing a huge budget deficit; we need to know how much bigger that hole is going to get because of this new legislation.”

Read the Rest…