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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Senate Cuts Program For Medically Needy Unfunded Program Might Have Led To Lawsuits, Gop Senators Say

Eric Torbenson Staff writer

Idaho senators axed a welfare program Tuesday that - had lawmakers paid for it - would have helped poor working families with high medical bills.

The Idaho Senate voted 24-9 to cut the never-funded medically needy program from the Health and Welfare budget. GOP senators said the program was sunk by the possibility of lawsuits from families who would have been helped under the program.

“There’s no cost in removing it from the books, and we could face considerable cost if we had a lawsuit,” said Sen. Grant Ipsen, R-Boise.

But Democratic Sen. Mary Lou Reed from Coeur d’Alene said excising the program is unnecessary and prevents the chance that the Legislature may find the cash for it in the future. With one in five Idahoans uninsured, the program would have helped bridge the gap for families who make too much for welfare but have no health insurance.

“I would urge you to take a second look at this,” Reed said.

“I don’t think we have the will to fund it this year, but this is not a financial black hole.”

Under the program, working families without health insurance who paid out most of their monthly income for medical costs would be eligible for Medicaid assistance.

Families would have to re-qualify each month depending on how much they made and how high their medical bills were, according to Ann Kirkwood of the state Health and Welfare department.

Reed doubted that the state faced serious liability from not having come up with money for the Medically Needy program.

Idaho counties would be far more responsible for lack of indigent care, she said.

But the Idaho Citizens Network in Boise had canvassed the state for people who would have used the program to start a class action lawsuit against the state, said Jim Greenwood, volunteer for the network.

The program was to have begun Oct. 1, 1993, Kirkwood said.

The Legislature spent a small amount on the computer program that would have tracked the estimated 4,000 to 7,000 people who would have used the medically needy program, she said, but never followed through with the rest of the money.

“We don’t really know how many of the people are out there,” she said.

As with the department’s oversight of the Pregnant Women and Children assistance program, the demand often far eclipses estimates, she said.

“That’s one reason we wanted it off the books.”

The bill now goes to the House for consideration.