Idaho is one of four states set to decide on Medicaid expansion during Tuesday’s general election.
Idaho’s Proposition 2, which if passed on November 6th would provide healthcare for the 62,000 Idahoans who fall into the state’s health coverage gap – those who make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough for subsidized coverage through the state’s exchange. Idaho Governor Butch Otter, a Republican, endorsed the initiative Tuesday.
Utah residents will also be going to the polls to vote on whether the state will join 33 others and Washington, D.C., in expanding Medicaid coverage to a lot more low-income adults. Nebraska also has the Medicaid question on its ballot, while Montana voters decide whether to approve a tobacco tax to continue that state’s Medicaid expansion or let it roll back next year.
The Affordable Care Act envisioned every state would expand Medicaid eligibility to its poor, but a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling made it optional, and many Republican-run Legislatures, including Idaho, haven’t yet expanded it. (NPR)
