Steve Spletstoser, who oversees quality control for Idaho Forest Group’s Laclede mill, straightens the lettering on a sign welcoming Japanese buyer Koji Fujiwara.
The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course boasts “the world’s only floating green.”
Idaho Forest Group’s Mike Henley tells buyer Koji Fujiwara and consultant Paul Owen how the company sorts timber for the Japanese market.
Freshly cut lumber awaits the dry kilns at an Idaho Forest Group mill.
Before the recession hit, the sawmill in the North Idaho town of Laclede was known for its reliability. It had never seen a shutdown, not in Steve Spletstoser’s nearly 30 years of working there. Then came 2008.
“It was really eye-opening to see,” Spletstoser says. “Your livelihood is hanging in the balance.” Day after day, the mill cut lumber, and day after day it piled up. Very little left the lot. Continue Reading →
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air to add Boise flights.
Allegiant Air, known for its low cost direct flights, will now fly out of Boise. The airline announced new flights from Boise to Las Vegas starting in October and Boise to Honolulu beginning in February.
Here’s the press release from Allegiant:
Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) announces new, nonstop jet service between Boise, Idaho and Honolulu beginning February 10, 2013, and Las Vegas beginning October 26, 2012. To celebrate, the carrier will offer introductory fares to Honolulu for as low as $180.00* one way and fares to Las Vegas as low as $62.00* one way, including taxes and fees. Flights and vacation packages are available for booking through April 16, 2013. Continue Reading →
The governor's panel on Medicaid expansion met for the first time this week. The group will submit its recommendation to the governor late this fall.
More than 236,000 Idahoans are currently enrolled in Medicaid. That’s the federal-state funded health care program for low-income adults and children. If the state chooses to expand eligibility in Idaho to 138 percent of poverty, 100,000 people could join the rolls.
Utah-based consulting firm Leavitt Partners presented that data to Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s work group on Medicaid expansion Monday. The state hired the firm to study how expanding the low-income health care program could affect Idahoans, and the state budget. Continue Reading →
Laura Summers of consulting group Leavitt Partners presents preliminary information to working group members.
The first meeting of Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s Medicaid expansion working group is underway. The group is charged with providing input to the governor as he weighs whether the state should expand its Medicaid program, as prescribed under President Obama’s health care law.
The biggest news out of today’s meeting so far: an additional 90,000 to 100,000 Idahoans will be eligible to receive Medicaid, if the state expands eligibility to 138 percent of the poverty line. That’s according to preliminary information from Leavitt Partners, the Utah-based consulting group the state has hired to evaluate the Medicaid expansion. Continue Reading →
It's not yet clear whether Idaho will elect to expand Medicaid eligibility and accept federal funding provided under the health care law.
A big question facing Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter after the Supreme Court ruled last month on the health care law is this: should Idaho expand its Medicaid program?
If states opt in and expand Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the poverty line, the federal government will pick up much of the tab, covering 100 percent of states’ expansion costs for the first two years, phased down to 90 percent by 2020.
Otter has appointed a panel of 15 lawmakers, industry and government experts to study Idaho’s options. That panel will meet for the first time Monday.
Penny Schweibert with the Department of Insurance outlines the state's options.
A governor-appointed panel of state lawmakers, insurance executives and other community stakeholders met for the first time today to begin the process of deciding how Idaho will deal with the federal health care law’s requirement that states have some sort of health insurance exchange.
The options: let the federal government take charge, authorize Idaho to create and manage it, or set up a federal-state partnership.
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter has to make the call. If the decision is for an Idaho-run exchange, then the state has to present its ‘blueprint’ to the federal government by November 16.
That’s a deadline Department of Insurance project manager Penny Schweibert says can’t be met. “States have spent two years getting to this point. Other states have spent nine to 12 months, and they’re still scrambling to get the blueprint done,” says Schweibert. “So, is it possible for us to get this blueprint? It would almost have to be a miracle.” Continue Reading →
Idaho Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal will lead today's meeting.
Calling all healthcare policy wonks! The Supreme Court’s health care ruling leaves some important decisions about the law’s implementation up to the states, as StateImpacthas reported. Those questions are: Should Idaho create its own health insurance exchange, and should it opt into the Medicaid expansion that is a key facet of the Affordable Care Act?
And now the day has come. The Health Insurance Exchange Working Group meets today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the J.R. Williams building. StateImpact will listen in with a few big questions in mind: How will these working groups coalesce around an opinion or set of opinions? How will Gov. Otter take in that information and come to decisions? And, most of all, what’s at stake for Idahoans?
One point of clarification: the governor’s working groups are distinct from the Legislature’s Health Care Task Force, which met on Monday. The groups are working on separate but parallel tracks, since the Legislature and the governor ultimately may come to different views of the questions now facing the state.
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