Idaho lawmakers’ impasse on Medicaid expansion persists
Idaho lawmakers assessing health care alternatives for the state’s working poor demonstrated again the divisions that make it unlikely they will reach consensus on a bill for the Legislature.
Half of a 10-member panel of legislators voiced outright opposition Monday to any version of Medicaid expansion to cover the estimated 78,000 Idaho adults who have no health coverage. That so-called gap group either earns too much to qualify for existing Medicaid or too little to be eligible for subsidized insurance on the state health care exchange created under the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Expanding Medicaid to cover such populations was part of the ACA, known popularly as Obamacare.
After hearing contradictory viewpoints from outside health experts and providers, the panel heard similarly offsetting proposals from two of its members, with one calling for straight Medicaid expansion and the other offered a far more modest plan funded only by the state.
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article98704372.html
