Even if Proposition 2, the Medicaid expansion initiative, is passed by Idaho voters at the polls in November and becomes law, state lawmakers say they will still have to act.
(Photo: from the Idaho Voters Information Pamphlet, Idaho Secretary of State’s Office)
“Even if it passes and it becomes law, all it says is merely, in the legislation, we shall expand Medicaid to cover this population,” District 4 Rep. Paul Amador said at an October 5 legislative panel in Moscow. “But it doesn’t provide the funding mechanism, it doesn’t provide the details behind it, so irrespective of whatever happens with the initiative, the legislature has to act.
“That’s not including the fact that there may be some members that don’t like the fact that it passes and try to make a run at it,” Amador said. “Irrespective of, you know, if everyone thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, in the legislature we would still have to do something.”
“Excellent point. So, he’s referring to the appropriation,” John Watts, a lobbyist with Veritas Advisors and moderator of the panel discussion, said. “Because the Medicaid program is a federal-state matching program. Right now it’s roughly 65-35, I think it’s 68%, precisely, federal money. The rest is state appropriation money, which they have to appropriate. So if Medicaid expansion passes, for awhile it’ll be 90-10 and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
“It doesn’t say Medicaid expansion starts tomorrow,” District 6 Rep. Thyra Stevenson said. “It directs the state to update the state health plan.
“The state health plan then gets sent to the federal organization, CMS, who manages all of this Medicaid business,” Stevenson said. “Then CMS looks at it…there’s still plenty of things that need to be worked out, and this is where the legislature comes into play….What the legislature needs to do, if it passes, is work within the state health plan mandates…waivers may need to be applied for…it’s not quick.”
District 5 Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy told the audience the state has health care issues beyond this issue.
“How are we going to be providing health care?’ Troy said. “Idaho has a doctor shortage. We’re one of the states that has the least number of doctors per capita. How are we going to make sure we are attracting doctors here?
“The legislature has really tried to step up and fund more Idaho students going through the WWAMI program,” Troy said. “And then also seats down at the medical school in Utah. So, we’ve really got to look holistically at how we’re delivering health care in Idaho, and how can we make sure that we have enough doctors to provide good health care. Because, we can have the greatest health care in the world, but if there’s no doctors, it’s not going to work.”
The panel discussion was held as part of the 2018 Idaho Libraries Association conference in Moscow on October 5.
Posted October 7, 2018
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