After impassioned debate, House kills health care bill with support from Magic Valley lawmakers

Times-News (Twin Falls, ID)

March 21--BOISE -- A bill aimed at providing health care coverage to some of the 78,000 Idahoans in the so-called Medicaid gap will not be heard on the House floor.

The Idaho Health Care Plan effectively died in the House Wednesday morning after Health and Welfare Committee chair Rep. Fred Wood, a Republican from Burley, made a motion to send HB 464 back to committee. The motion passed with support from some Magic Valley lawmakers.

HB 464 would let the state apply for two waivers from the federal government: one that would let working poor adults buy subsidized health insurance on the state's health care exchange, and another that would allow people with severe, expensive illnesses to get insurance from Medicaid.

It's said that the plan would provide coverage to an estimated 35,000 Idahoans who do not currently qualify for Medicaid or for subsidized plans on Idaho's health insurance marketplace exchange.

This is not the first time HB 464 has been pulled back to committee; after passing through Health and Welfare with a do-pass recommendation in early February, the bill was sent back to committee several weeks later.

On Tuesday, HB 464 passed out of committee for a second time with no recommendation.

Wood's motion was met with impassioned, at times tearful, bipartisan debate from lawmakers who argued that the bill deserved a hearing on the floor.

"I've been all but spit on in this body for bringing [the bill] back," said Rep. Christy Perry, a Republican from Nampa, through tears. "I don't give a damn what anybody thinks of me."

Rep. Ilana Rubel, a Democrat from Boise, debated in support of Perry.

"It is a tragedy that anybody here should suffer virtually being spit upon for showing that amount of courage," Rubel said, also crying. "People shouldn't face that for refusing to be a sheep."

Wood defended his motion, saying the bill never had a chance at becoming law this session. He and others who debated in support of the motion argued that stalling the bill rather than voting on it would increase the chances that the proposal resurfaces in future sessions.

"This is a wonderful concept," Wood said. "But we have to play the long-term game here. This bill will not go anywhere this year, never was going to go anywhere this year."

Among Magic Valley lawmakers, Rep. Sally Toone of Gooding, Rep. Steve Miller of Fairfield and Rep. Stephen Hartgen of Twin Falls voted to hear the bill on the floor.

"I thought that was important," Hartgen said after the vote.

Wood, Rep. Scott Bedke of Oakley, Rep. Maxine Bell of Jerome, Rep. Lance Clow of Twin Falls and Rep. Clark Kauffman of Filer voted in favor of the motion to send it back to committee.

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