A physician's assistant checks out a patient at a community health center. More than 236,000 Idahoans are currently enrolled in Medicaid, a health care program for low income Americans.
Idaho has spent at least $195,000 to study how expanding Medicaid could impact people and the state’s budget.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has contracted with two out-of-state consulting firms, Utah-based Leavitt Partners and Seattle-based Milliman.
Under the federal health reform law, which was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, states can decide whether to expand their Medicaid programs to include people living at 138 percent of the poverty line. Estimates show, an expansion would add between 97,000 and 111,000 to the health care program in Idaho. More than 236,000 Idahoans are currently on Medicaid. Continue Reading →
Home construction has picked up in Idaho even as foreclosures persist.
Idaho saw more foreclosure filings from July through September than it did in the previous quarter of the year, according to RealtyTrac data released today. The number of filings inched up by 5.6 percent from the second to third quarters.
Idaho has the 14th highest foreclosure rate in the nation, with one of every 294 housing units experiencing a foreclosure filing over the more recent quarter. While that might not sound great, the state’s housing market has seen substantial improvement over the last year, based on RealtyTrac’s numbers and other statistics.
The number of Idaho properties experiencing foreclosure filings has decreased by 45 percent compared to a year ago, RealtyTrac says.
Ada County Republicans arrived hours early to attend the March caucus.
The Ada County GOP has beenstingy with contributions to local candidates in the run-up to the Nov. 6 election. When asked how much the Ada County Republicans have been able to spend on races so far, treasurer Darrel McRoberts gives a dejected response.
“Not one penny this year,” he says. “We haven’t been able to. We had to pay it all to Taco Bell.” Continue Reading →
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter appointed 13 industry stakeholders and lawmakers to look at whether Idaho should create it’s own health insurance exchange, let the federal government take the reins, or a combination of both.
The Associated Press reports at today’s health insurance exchange meeting, KPMG consultant Robert Mitchell explained why Idaho’s time is up. Continue Reading →
Dr. Ted Epperly is the director and CEO of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho based in Boise. Epperly wants to see state support increase for med school and residency programs in Idaho.
Dr. Ted Epperlyis CEO of the Boise-based Family Medicine Residency of Idaho, a program that gives medical students their last three years of training before they become doctors. He was an Army physician for 21 years before returning to work in his native Idaho. In addition to managing the residency program, Epperly is active in state and national health policy.
StateImpactIdaho spoke with him recently for our series on Idaho’s doctor shortage. The state currently has a lower number of doctors per capita than every state in the nation except Mississippi.
We wanted to include more from our interview with Epperly, so here is a portion that has been edited and shortened.
Q: How has medical care in Idaho changed because of the shortage of doctors? Continue Reading →
Idaho is the nation's third-largest cheese producer, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
Days after the Idaho State Department of Agriculture touted that Wal-Mart has begun carrying cheeses from Nelson-Ricks Creamery Company’s Rexburg plant, the company announced it will end production this month.
“What’s happened to the company has been devastating,” president Reagan Wood said Monday. “The community and the employees have been impacted, and we did everything we could to not have that happen.”
More than 15 people will lose their jobs because of the closure, Wood confirms, but the company will continue to operate in a different form. It will now get its cheeses from other Idaho manufacturers, and package that cheese at its facility in Salt Lake City, Wood says. Continue Reading →
Among states with fewer than 2 million people, Idaho has the least amount of doctors per capita.
Just because a state doesn’t have its own medical school, doesn’t mean it will have a higher proportion of doctors than states with med schools.
Take a look at this table showing states with populations of less than 2 million people. Fewer than half of these 14 states don’t have their own med school (although some, like Idaho, are part of an agreement to educate doctors through the University of Washington and University of Utah). Continue Reading →
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Idaho Power CEO J. LaMont Keen rose through the company's ranks.
Idaho Power CEO J. LaMont Keen‘s base salary rose by 45 percent between 2006 and last year, compensation records show.
Keen’s salary was $436,538 when he was appointed just over six years ago. By 2011, it had risen to $634,423.
“That’s a highly significant increase, especially in the years of recession,” said Harry Schum of Compensation Resources, Inc., a New Jersey-based consulting company that specializes in executive compensation plans. “It would tend to make me believe he was brought in below market level with an aggressive increase to market levels.”
In fact, that does appear to be the explanation for Keen’s rising rate of pay. According to Idaho Power, former company CEO Jan Packwood earned a base salary $630,000 in 2005, the year before Keen took the reins. Continue Reading →
Tax collections to the state’s main bank account came in 3.7 percent above expectations for the month of September.
Three months into this fiscal year, Idaho tax collections are 5.7 percent above the previous year.
Division of Financial Management
September's general fund revenue report.
The Division of Financial Management’s general fund revenue report shows individual income tax, sales tax and product tax collections exceeded the monthly prediction.
Corporate income tax collections and miscellaneous revenue clocked in below forecast amounts. Continue Reading →
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