Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy calls for ‘full privatization of health care’

In an audio clip recently obtained by Semafor, Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy advocated for the full privatization of the U.S. health care system.

“In my opinion, we need to return health care to pure privatization because it’s like student loans. It’s like federal student loans,” Sheehy said in the undated audio clip. “When you have students who have an unlimited access to federal student loans, the cost of education has gone up 2,000% in the last 45 years. Because the colleges know they can charge whatever they’re going to charge because the student loan will pay it. And it’s a similar dynamic, not exactly, but a similar health care where we’ve got a substance system that’s got perverse incentives for the health care.”

In audio obtained by @semafor, Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy calls for a privatization of the health care, saying “colleges know they can charge whatever they want to charge … It’s similar to health care, where we’ve got a subsidy system that’s got perverse.” pic.twitter.com/BkrqO2JGVK

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) December 4, 2023

The audio comes less than a week after former President Donald Trump renewed his calls for repealing the Affordable Care Act, which would leave millions without health insurance. If Sheehy is elected to the Senate, he would likely support a potential effort to repeal the landmark health care legislation despite Republicans failing to do so multiple times during Trump’s first term. Sheehy’s website cites Obamacare as the main reason for higher premiums.