Morning News: Idaho Firefighting Costs Nearly Double Average Wildfire Season

States Opposing Health Care Law Prepare for It Anyway – “Like many Republican governors, Jan Brewer of Arizona is a stinging critic of President Obama’s health care law. When the Supreme Court upheld it in June, she called the ruling “an overreaching and unaffordable assault on states’ rights and individual liberty.” Yet the Brewer administration is quietly designing an insurance exchange — one of the most essential and controversial requirements of the law” The New York Times

Steep price on Idaho wildfires – “The fires have also added up in cost. As of Sept. 17, the state of Idaho spent an estimated total of more than $18 million on fire suppression this year, according to the Idaho Department of Lands. More than $7 million of that is reimbursable, which leaves about $11.4 million for state tax dollars to cover. The state is reimbursed for providing personnel and resources to assist on in and out of state fires in a federal protection area, Emily Anderson, public information officer for Idaho Department of Lands, said.” Idaho Press-Tribune

Physician assistants, nurse practitioners fill gap on primary care – “But the situation is not quite so bad when nurse practitioners and physician assistants are considered. Idaho might rank dead last in the U.S. for primary-care doctors per person, but it is tied for 14th for physician assistants and 45th for nurse practitioners, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s latest data.” Idaho Statesman