Legis leaders on health plan: ‘Not lost on us that we’re dealing with people’s lives here’
Though minority leaders have some reservations, Gov. Butch Otter’s proposed new $30 million Primary Care Access Program is drawing support overall from legislative leaders. “Not doing anything is not an option, as far as I’m concerned,” said Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum. “It’s unfortunate that people had to have died from manageable illnesses and be in the paper before we started paying attention. … That there is a political will and commitment is a huge first step.” However, she said, “I have to question the price tag … and the fiscal responsibility of this. We’re still paying into the Medicaid expansion program we don’t receive any benefit from, so the dollars go to other states. We’re still taking care of CAT fund and indigent funds in our counties and cities, and now we’re being asked as taxpayers to pay $30 million for a new program.”
House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, said he won’t predict that the program will be approved, but he promised it will receive full hearings. “There’s ways to do this without major disruption to other budgets and other programs,” Bedke said.
Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said, “It’s not lost on us that we’re dealing with people’s lives here, this is a real issue, this is a serious issue. And it’s not lost on us that this doesn’t go as far as the original Medicaid expansion. ... There are other states that are looking at other alternatives that we may learn from, that we may be able to emulate somewhere down the road. We’ve gone 100 years without providing this service, we want to do it right. And this seems like a good step. As Director Armstrong has explained, this does not preclude us doing something more in the future. We’re not going to have to dismantle this and rebuild something else. This could be a good transition to something else, but it’s a way to provide some coverage to those people.” Hill added, “I realize that there are pressures on the budget everywhere, but $30 million, for what we’re getting out of it, it seems like a pretty good investment to me.”
