H&W Chair Wood: ‘We Hear You’

After two hours of testimony at this morning’s Health & Welfare listening session, House Health & Welfare Chairman Fred Wood, R-Burley, thanked everyone who spoke. “We understand a lot of Idahoans have gone through a tough time economically. We are coming out of that,” he said. “But we still haven’t solved a lot of the issues that that presented.” He said there were “two main themes” that emerged from today’s testimony. One was “the gap population, the 85,000 people who have … no access to health care. Second, a corollary to that to some extent, as we go forward and try to develop and build a sustainable model of health care in the United States that we can actually afford,” including moves toward managed care and “accountable care,” he said, “There’s going to be some bumps along the way. We hear you. We don’t have a deaf ear”/ Betsy Russell , Eye on Boise. More here .

Also by Eye on Boise today:

• H&W listening session attracts crowd
• Senate Ed chair: ‘This is the year for education’
• Racing Commission chairman resigns, effective immediately
• Testimony: ‘Denials of service’, ‘Parents need voice’, expand Medicaid
• Themes for listening session: Concerns about Optum, calls to expand Medicaid for Idahoans’ gap

Question: You know, I think this listening session is a good thing. Classic conservatives in the Legislature — as opposed to the RINO conservatives that Kootenai County sends to Boise — can be affected by testimony of this sort. Agree? Disagree?