Is Idaho poised for movement on Medicaid?
At the same time, potential action on
Despite developments near and far, however, lawmakers said last week that whether a bill to accept expansion would emerge this session, much less come to a vote, is uncertain.
"The Health and Welfare committees are going to honor the governor's request made during the State of the State and they're going to hold a hearing. We'll see where we go from there with this," said House Speaker
THE
The national climate appears to be warming. To date, 28 states and the
In 2012, the
States where opposition has run highest are increasingly finding more palatable work-arounds via federally approved waivers.
Last week, the federal government approved
Under that plan, residents with incomes above the federal poverty level of
The leading
The
'A LINE IN THE SAND'
The work group voted 12-1 to recommend the plan in December, and three of four state legislators on the panel voted for it.
The no vote came from House Majority Leader
"I personally don't think it happens this year," Moyle said. "You have a speaker and (committee) chairman who said unless there's a consensus, nothing's going to happen. I don't see a consensus coming together this year. Too many people have staked a line in the sand."
"We're going to have a conversation with the task force about what their ideas are, what their recommendations are and how we might go forward," Wood said. "And then those people that are interested have to go out and do the homework to convince a majority of
He added: "Having looked into the economics of it, the health care of the citizens, the amount of taxes we pay into the federal coffers at this point to support this program that we're not getting back, and the economic activity that we're missing at this point in time, I think that it's no-brainer to expand
The chairman of the same committee in the
"We're going to have to come to some consensus in our body," Heider said. "We're primarily Republican, we're primarily conservative, we're primarily states rights vs. federal rights. So all those ideologies come into play here. Some people will resist it just because it's a federal program. Well, that's a foolish idea, even from a Republican perspective. Good ideas are good ideas."
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