Testimony: ‘It’s heartbreaking - we need to make some changes’
More of this morning’s testimony from the public hearing on health and welfare issues:
Dena Duncan told the lawmakers, “Close the gap, expand Medicaid coverage.” She said, “If we can help those 78,000 … it could improve their ability to support their families.”
Speakers called for reforms in everything from Idaho’s foster care laws and practices, to its referral practices and reimbursements for treatment, to its certification process for mid-level dental hygiene practitioners to better serve underserved people.
Ardella Perry, a volunteer with the Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline, said the number of people who commit suicide in Idaho each year is stunning. “It’s 300 people – that’s a lot,” she said. She said as many as five a week who’ve made attempts show up at the Boise hospital where her husband works as a critical care nurse. She shared the story of helping a young man she spoke with who first said he had a noose under his bed and planned to hang himself; lawmakers were visibly touched. “As a responder on the phone,” she said, “when that phone rings and you pick it up, you want this person not to become one of the numbers, more than anything you’ve ever wanted before.”
Lori Lodge, a licensed counselor, called for support for SB 1204 or 1205, expanding Medicaid. “Our kids go home every day in crisis. It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “We need to make some changes. … I hope we can make some changes this year.”
At that point, Senate Health & Welfare Chairman Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, said House Health & Welfare Chairman Fred Wood would select two more people to testify this morning, and asked for a show of hands of those who urgently needed to speak; at least half a dozen quickly rose or waved their hands. Heider called three more up to speak; four came.
