Idaho Governor Brad Little has signed into law Medicaid expansion for an estimated 90-thousand low-income residents.
The Republican governor Tuesday endorsed a bill expanding Medicaid to people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
The compromise measure that emerged from the House and Senate seeks a federal waiver for a work requirement that would kick people off Medicaid for failing to meet those requirements. The bill would also seek a waiver to allow those in the expansion to stay on the state’s health insurance exchange rather than go on Medicaid, a move backers say could save the state millions of dollars.
In November, 61 percent of Idaho voters passed an initiative authorizing Medicaid expansion without work requirements.
Opponents of the legislation signed by Little noted that the work requirement and allowing people to stay on the state’s health insurance could trigger lawsuits. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., recently threw out similar work requirements in Arkansas and Kentucky. (AP)
