Boise (670 KBOI News) – Governor Otter’s so-called “dual waiver” health plan could be dead of the session, after the House of Representatives voted to send it back to the Health and Welfare Committee.
Committee Chairman Fred Wood of Burley, said the bill, which cleared the Committee on a 12-3 vote in January, didn’t have the support among House membership to pass a floor vote.
“I know that 75% of the people of the State of Idaho feel this legislature should do something for the ‘gap’ population,” said Wood. “But unfortunately, this doesn’t appear what we can get the votes to do at this point in time.”
But House Minority Leader Matt Erpelding of Boise said he thinks there were enough votes to make it happen.
“I know that my entire caucus is there, on this bill,” said Erpelding. “We believe that this is the best thing we can get for Idaho, and that this deserves a vote. It’s deeply disappointing that a bill this important, after five years, is going to get pulled back to Committee without a vote.”
The bill would have moved moved a couple thousand people off private insurance to Medicaid, as a cost-lowering effort, and would have granted subsidies to about half of the nearly 80-thousand Idahoans who fall into the so-called Medicaid gap.
