Cheers to Rusche, Schmidt — Trib

In his weekly Cheers & Jeers column, Opinion Editor Marty Trillhaase gives CHEERS … to state Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, and Sen. Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow:

Defeated for re-election, these two physician-members kept hope alive for more than 78,000 Idahoans.

These are members of the so-called “gap” population - working adults too poor to qualify for subsidized private health insurance but who make too much to qualify for Medicaid.

Rusche and Schmidt waged a lonely vigil with a GOP legislative majority so stricken by Obama Derangement syndrome that it refused to expand Medicaid coverage to this group.

No one was more persistent on that front than Rusche. The retired pediatrician transformed what had been a debate about saving tax dollars into a crusade to save lives. He refused to let anyone forget that extending coverage to Idaho’s working poor was a matter of life and death. More here.