[Vision2020] Idaho House Trims Medicaid

[Tom Hansen]

"State Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, introduced a 27-year-old woman who sat
in the House gallery and who suffers from cystic fibrosis.

'I don’t see how we in this state can look people that have this condition
in the eye and say, ‘You’re on your own, figure it out,’ ' he said."

Courtesy of today's (March 25, 2010) Spokesman-Review.

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Idaho House trims Medicaid
Budget heads to Senate after intense debate

BOISE – Idaho’s health insurance program for the poor will have to squeeze
providers for savings under a $1.55 billion budget passed narrowly by the
House on Wednesday.

The 38-30 vote backed a 2011 Medicaid budget that’s 3.5 percent below this
year’s state funding level, at a time when the number of public-assistance
recipients is rising. About 80 percent of Medicaid now comes from the
federal government, in a match of state funds.

In Idaho, there are more than 200,000 people, including 150,000 children,
getting help from the program that provides health insurance for the poor
and disabled.

The House vote on HB 701 came after intense debate. State Rep. Fred Wood,
R-Burley, lead sponsor of the bill, said, “We find ourselves in truly
extraordinary times, and I’m as uncomfortable with this budget as anybody
in this room because I do know what it is going to do to some people.”
But, he said, “Short of increasing taxes, there’s simply not anything that
we’re going to do.”

State Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, who like Wood is a physician, said,
“Almost all the people we serve in Medicaid are either children, adults in
nursing homes or assisted living that are poor, or are disabled. They’re
going to have trouble.”

The budget cuts $22 million in state funds out of Medicaid, which means
Idaho will lose $90 million in federal matching funds, for a total impact
of more than $100 million in cutbacks.

House Health and Welfare Chairwoman Sharon Block, R-Twin Falls, said,
“This budget is needed to help balance the state budget.”

The House also voted 45-23 in favor of HB 702, which sets an additional
piece of the Department of Health and Welfare budget that includes deep
cuts including elimination of the adult cystic fibrosis program.

State Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, introduced a 27-year-old woman who sat
in the House gallery and who suffers from cystic fibrosis.

“I don’t see how we in this state can look people that have this condition
in the eye and say, ‘You’re on your own, figure it out,’ ” he said.

Both budget bills now head to the Senate.

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How they voted

In the 38-30 vote to pass a Medicaid budget for next year that includes
millions in cuts, here’s how North Idaho lawmakers voted:

Voting in favor:
Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake
Rep. Marge Chadderdon, R-Coeur d’Alene
Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover
Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls
Rep. Mary Lou Shepherd, D-Prichard

Voting against:
Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake
Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene
Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow
Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene
Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow

Reps. Phil Hart, R-Athol, and Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, missed the vote.

The budget bill, HB 701, now moves to the Senate.

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I guess if we Idahoans get too bored, we can always sit around and watch
each other die.

Good job, Butchie-boy!

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

 "If our only attention is going to be on how we pay the bill and not how
we lower the bill, I think we miss aiming at where the real problem is,
and it should be to lower that cost."

- Governor Otter



- Unknown