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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

$10M Medicaid gap bill reintroduced in the Idaho Senate

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The fight to provide basic health services to Idaho's neediest residents has moved to the Senate. Earlier this week, Rep. Fred Wood pulled back a $10 million plan to provide primary care to Idahoans who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to qualify for health insurance premium subsidies. The key House Health and Welfare chairman said at the time he didn't have the support to get it out of the House. That then prompted Sen. Marv Hagedorn to introduce a nearly identical bill to the Senate on Friday. Hagedorn's plan would be funded from the state's Joint Millennium Fund — the state's share of a multibillion-dollar class-action tobacco settlement — rather than use state tax dollars. The Republican from Meridian says that he has waited too long for the House to come up with a solution.



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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