Karen Early is the director of corporate communications for Blue Cross of Idaho, the state's largest insurer.
One of Blue Cross of Idaho’s new television commercials opens with a chirpy jingle. “You’re protected in the sun, you’re protected when it rains,” the song begins. The pitch is clear: this is the insurer for you, no matter your lifestyle.
For Blue Cross of Idaho, this is more than an advertisement. It’s a big step.
“This is the first time the company has ever, in its 65 plus years of existence, actually gone out with a brand campaign to explain who we are,” says Karen Early, the company’s director of corporate communication.
She says it’s a direct response to the Affordable Care Act. “Literally, the day after the bill passed was the day we all looked at each other and said, ‘Things are going to change a lot,’ Early says. Continue Reading →
Blue Cross of Idaho's "Blue Hat" campaign is the company's first-ever effort to build brand awareness among individual consumers.
The federal health care law often called Obamacare is moving steadily forward, despite pushback in conservative states like Idaho. In addition to everything else, the law means big changes for the individual insurance market. As of 2014, millions more people will be shopping for health insurance for themselves and their families. And insurers are already jockeying for that new business.
State leaders have yet to determine whether Idaho will establish a state-based health insurance exchange or expand Medicaid eligibility. But there is quite a lot we do know about the likely effects of the federal health care law in Idaho.
About 46 percent of Idahoans get insurance through their employers, but that’s not the part of the market that will be most significantly affected by the law. “The most dramatic changes that happen under the Affordable Care Act happen in the individual market,” explains Karen Pollitz of the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation.
Through its online health insurance marketplaces, called exchanges, along with its subsidies and penalties, the law seeks to draw many more people into purchasing insurance in the individual market.
One unofficial kickoff to Idaho’s annual legislative session is the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho conference. And it’s already here. On Dec. 5, the business group hosts its day-long conference,packed with national and local speakers.
Last year, his high-energy, fiery talk, critical of the federal government, drew cheers from the standing-room-only audience. Casey was critical of Congress and the Obama administration, saying government “lurches from decision to decision.” He said lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are abusing the political system.
Casey called for a revamped tax code and more oversight of federal regulators, and he urged Idaho’s Attorney General to “sue the federal government more often.” Continue Reading →
Aberdeen's mayor, Morgan Anderson, at a local American Legion Auxiliary event earlier this year
Tomorrow, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and a half-dozen state officials will visit a small eastern Idaho town of fewer than 2,000 people. That town – Aberdeen – will be Idaho’s Capital for a Day. Mayor Morgan Anderson says he hopes to use some of the time to explain to state leaders why he’s concerned for his town’s very survival.
StateImpact first wrote about Aberdeen just over a year ago, when J.R. Simplot Company announced plans to close three of its existing potato processing plants and replace them with a new facility in Caldwell. Simplot touts the new plant’s efficiency, but one result of the closures will be the loss of more than 500 jobs. Nearly 300 of those employees report to work in Aberdeen, and many live in the town.
Gov. Otter has until Dec. 14 to decide if Idaho will create it's own health insurance exchange.
Back in July, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter put together a group of insurance industry stakeholders, business owners and lawmakers to figure out if Idaho should create its own health insurance exchange or let the federal government take the lead.
The work group has since recommended Idaho create its own state-based exchange. It spent at least $166,368 to come to that conclusion.
Invoices to the Idaho Department of Insurance that StateImpact obtained through Idaho’s public information law show the greatest cost to the state was through hiring consultants and experts. Continue Reading →
A child waits with a box of food at a food distribution center.
As the holiday season gets underway, the PBS show Frontline premiered a new documentary this week that tells the story of child poverty in America through the eyes of kids.
It’s called Poor Kids, and the hour-long program weaves together the similar stories of three families living in poverty, and trying to work their way out of it.
For a family of four, an annual income of $23,050 or less is considered in poverty.Today’s median household income is $50,054. In Idaho, the median income is $46,423. Last year, 7 percent of Idahoans had incomes that amounted to less than 50 percent of the poverty line, according to a Census Bureau report. Continue Reading →
On Nov. 6 Idaho voters repealed a trio of education laws that were put into place in 2011.
Idaho school Superintendent Tom Luna said this week the voter repeal of his education laws would mean a financial hit to districts. Today his department released an estimate of that impact. It says the Nov. 6 ‘no’ votes on Propositions 1, 2 and 3, takes more than $36 million off the table.
That money had been slated for schools. Nampa School’s spokesperson Allison Westfall says her district has been trying to figure out what the repeal means for them.
“There are some things we need to learn more about,” says Westfall. “There was a clause in there about funding for certified staff. There was professional development dollars, technology. So what becomes of all that? And we are eager to hear the answers.” Continue Reading →
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius yesterday granted states more time to decide whether to create their own health insurance exchanges.
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said today that he will confer with Idaho legislators and try to get more information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) before coming to a decision about whether the state should build its own health insurance exchange. The state’s other options are to leave it to the federal government, or pursue a federal-state partnership.
Governor C.L. “Butch” said in a news release this morning he’ll wait to consult with Idaho Legislative leaders before deciding if the state will create its own health insurance exchange.
Late yesterday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it would give states until Dec. 14 to decide if they’ll create a state-based exchange, a federal exchange, or a partnership model.
Here’s the governor’s press release:
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter said today that he will consult with legislative leaders and be ready by the new December 14 deadline for submitting a decision on whether Idaho will build its own health insurance exchange or opt into the federal system being developed under Obamacare. Continue Reading →
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