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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Bedke, Hill say health care ‘gap’ discussions still ongoing

House Speaker Scott Bedke and Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill both told the Idaho Press Club today that discussions are continuing on how to address Idaho’s health care “gap” – the 78,000 Idahoans who make too little to qualify for subsidized health insurance through the state insurance exchange, but don’t qualify for Medicaid, which Idaho hasn’t expanded.

Hill said, “I really thought that the governor’s plan was going to sail through quite easily. I thought there’d be no interest at all in any type of Medicaid expansion in a traditional way or even a non-traditional way,” he said, “yet as you know that has been held up and there’s actually more interest being expressed by legislators about some kind of modified, using the federal dollars to help put together an Idaho program. That was probably one of the biggest surprises for me this legislative session.”

Bedke said, “What you’re seeing now is a lot of well-meaning legislators doing their own individual due diligence.” They’re learning about what Idaho would be getting with the governor’s proposed PCAP program, he said, “what are we buying with that. … So others are looking at what it might look like if we did some type of a block grant from the feds. There are plenty of states that have gone down this road. … They’re doing due diligence. ... So we’re collecting data. I think there might be something that comes out of all this.”

Asked how what’s being discussed would differ from either PCAP or Medicaid expansion, Hill said, “It would involve the private sector more, would include more managed care, would include possibly having health insurance companies more involved … rather than through the Medicaid system. … People are pretty reluctant to expand a program that already has some problems with it. Of course that’s a whole different ballgame than what we’re looking at with PCAP, which is just primary care, doesn’t cover surgeries, doesn’t cover a lot of prescriptions and so forth.” He added, “PCAP is not mutually exclusive with something else… It could be a step to some of these other things or a transition, in the interim, as we’re looking to waivers or other possibilities. … All would cover those people in the gap to one degree or another.”



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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