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August 3, 2012

To Expand Or Not To Expand? Governor’s Work Group On Medicaid Meets Monday

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 […]

August 2, 2012

It Would “Be A Miracle” If State Meets Health Insurance Exchange Deadline

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 […]

Let The Decision-Making Begin: Governor’s Health Care Working Groups Kick Off Today

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 StateImpact has 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 […]

July 30, 2012

Task Force Highlights Big Questions Idaho Faces On Health Care Reform

The Legislature’s health care task force donned its waders this morning. It was time to take up the many questions surrounding the extent to which Idaho will implement President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. StateImpact has followed closely the implications of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling upholding the health care law. For states — especially those […]

July 27, 2012

Legislative Task Force Will Focus On Health Care Law

The Idaho Legislature’s health care task force will focus on the Supreme Court’s health care decision in its day-long meeting on Monday. The 14-member group will hear from Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal and Department of Health and Welfare Director Richard Armstrong, among others. The Monday gathering comes days before Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s […]

July 23, 2012

How Funding Rural Idaho Schools Became ‘Not Unlike a Barn-Raising’

Sitting on the ground in an overgrown forest outside of Council, Idaho, a couple of weeks ago, logger Mark Mahon strayed from the main subject of conversation. He was talking about how logging companies like the one he owns with his parents and brother have fared in recent years, but he began talking about the […]

July 19, 2012

Budget Cuts Put Idaho DEQ In Reactive Position

The Idaho state agency that monitors air and water quality has had to do more with less for a long time. Four years after the recession forced the state to slash funding for the Department of Environmental Quality, state support for the agency remains lower than it was back in 2003. During the last legislative […]

July 18, 2012

Idaho Could Lose More Than 10,000 Defense-Related Jobs

As federal lawmakers debate how to avoid falling off the looming fiscal cliff, a report commissioned for the Aerospace Industries Association shows Idaho could lose 10,411 defense-related jobs. The U.S. could face job losses totaling two million, according to the report. Automatic budget cuts are scheduled to go into effect in January, unless lawmakers come […]

July 16, 2012

Idaho Misses Out On Millions Without Online Sales Tax

Republican governors are getting on-board with the online sales tax, according to a Wall Street Journal piece out today. In Idaho, a so-called “streamlined sales tax bill” failed last legislative session, and not for the first time. The bill was intended to create a more reliable way of collecting the state’s 6 percent sales tax […]

July 13, 2012

Gov. Otter Appoints Public And Private Stakeholders To Study Medicaid Expansion, Insurance Exchange

Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter has created two groups to study Idaho’s health care options under the federal Affordable Care Act. As some Republican governor’s across the U.S. are rejecting key components of President Obama’s health care law, Gov. Otter has said Idaho’s best bet is to carefully examine expanding Medicaid and creating a health insurance […]

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