Montana Senate 2024: Sheehy calls for returning ‘healthcare to pure privatization’

Tim Sheehy, a lead contender for the Republican Senate nomination in Montana, said earlier this year that he wants to privatize the U.S. healthcare system, according to audio obtained by Semafor.

The comments, made at an August meet-and-greet in Glasgow, Mont., were captured on an audio recording obtained by Semafor. Speaking to a group of attendees, Sheehy argued that the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies for insurance coverage and other federal health programs had inflated the cost of medical treatment.

“Our hospitals have been built around federal healthcare subsidies. In my opinion we need to return healthcare to pure privatization,” he said.

He then drew a comparison to the federal student loan system. “Colleges know they can charge whatever they want to charge because student loans are going to pay,” he said. “It’s similar in healthcare, where we’ve got a subsidy system that’s got perverse incentives.”

Sheehy did not explicitly specify whether he would favor privatizing Medicare or Medicaid. However, when asked by an attendee at the event if he would “put all healthcare into the hands of insurance companies” or include “some kind of a subsidy,” Sheehy responded by broadly criticizing the concept of health insurance.

“I mean, healthcare worked before health insurance existed. Each town had a doctor that would drive to your house, take care of you and you’d pay him,” Sheehy said. “And guess what? It worked. It worked when you actually paid a doctor for services provided. And then we started getting into this HMO, insurance, mega-conglomerate structure.”

The comments go further than Sheehy’s past public comments on healthcare. On his website, he blames Obamacare for higher premiums and adds that more government control, “health care has only made things worse“ but stops short of calling for a repeal.

In a email to Semafor, a spokesman for Sheehy said it was “clear that Tim was attacking insurance companies and acknowledging our health care system is broken.” They added that Sheehy believes there needs to be “greater transparency, competition, and shopping for services in our health care system,” as well as protections for patients with pre-existing conditions.

Asked if Sheehy supported Medicare privatization, they said: “Tim knows we must keep our commitment to every Montana senior to protect their Social Security and Medicare benefits. He believes our nation made a promise to our seniors and we must keep that promise. Full stop.”

Sheehy, an aerospace company CEO and Navy veteran, is the top pick of GOP leaders in Washington to take on Montana’s Democratic senator, Jon Tester, in one of the key races that could determine control of the upper chamber in 2024. He is expected to face a challenge in the GOP primary from Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., but recent polls have shown Sheehy leading in their matchup. Last week, Cook Political shifted its analysis of the general election from “lean Democrat” to “toss up.”