Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has named the 26 members of two working groups he's appointing to explore issues surrounding a state health insurance exchange and a possible Medicaid expansion under the national health care reform law; state Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong will chair the Medicaid expansion group, which will hold its first meeting Aug. 6; while Idaho Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal will chair the exchange group, which is still working to schedule its first meeting. The groups include people from both the public and private sectors, including several state lawmakers; click below for the full list. Both groups will report back their findings and recommendations to Otter by fall.

C.L. “Butch” Otter

GOVERNOR

 

NEWS RELEASE

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                                        

July 13, 2012                                                                                                                              

GOVERNOR APPOINTS WORKING GROUPS TO STUDY OBAMACARE QUESTIONS

 

(BOISE) – Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter announced the appointments today of 26 public- and private-sector stakeholders to two working groups under the Idaho Health Care Council to consider key questions about Idaho’s path forward under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dick Armstrong will lead a group of 14 evaluating the potential impacts on Idaho of Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid benefits to citizens whose incomes are up to 138 percent of the poverty level – roughly $31,000 a year for a family of four. Its first meeting will be August 6, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., at the Department of Health and Welfare headquarters in Boise.

Idaho Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal will lead a group of 12 evaluating the potential impacts on Idaho of the State creating a health insurance exchange acceptable to the federal government under Obamacare, or participating in a federally created exchange. A schedule of meetings has not yet been established.

Agreeing to serve on Director Armstrong’s Medicaid expansion working group are:

·         Senator Patti Anne Lodge of Huston

·         Senator Dan Schmidt of Moscow

·         Representative Fred Wood of Burley

·         Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke

·         Dan Chadwick, Idaho Association of Counties

·         Gooding County Commissioner Tom Faulkner

·         Dr. Ted Epperly, Family Medical Residency of Idaho

·         Dr. Bill Woodhouse, Family Medical Residency Program, Idaho State University

·         Steve Millard, Idaho Hospital Association

·         Susie Pouliot, Idaho Medical Association

·         Rev. Bill Roscoe, Boise Rescue Mission

·         Elizabeth Ambrose Gray, nurse practitioner

·         Denise Chuckovich, Idaho Primary Care Association

·         Stephen Weeg, Health West Inc.

Agreeing to serve on Director Deal’s health insurance exchange working group are:

·         Senator John Goedde of Coeur d’Alene

·         Representative John Rusche of Lewiston

·         Representative Lynn Luker of Boise

·         Zelda Geyer-Sylvia, Blue Cross of Idaho

·         Scott Kreiling, Regence Blue Shield

·         Dave Self, Pacific Source Health Plans

·         Tom Shores, independent health insurance broker

·         Kevin Settles, business owner

·         Dr. John Livingston, Boise physician

·         Alex LaBeau, Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry

·         Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation

·         John Watts, Idaho Chamber Alliance

Governor Otter has asked the working groups to report their findings and recommendations to him this fall. He will outline more specific questions to be addressed, as well as expectations and deadlines in a directive to Armstrong and Deal by the end of July.

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