Idaho health officials are taking another crack at addressing the state’s Medicaid gap.
Proponents say that unlike prior efforts to simply expand Medicaid or design special programs for low-income Idahoans, the new plan would help the middle class by getting health insurance rate hikes under control.
In its fiscal 2018 budget request to Governor Butch Otter, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare proposes a two-pronged overhaul dubbed the Idaho Health Care Plan. The Idaho Department of Insurance and the state’s health exchange, Your Health Idaho, also worked closely with the department to develop the plan, which looks to stabilize the individual insurance marketplace, and have more people insured. It would allow – but not require – some of Idaho’s sickest adults to get insurance through Medicaid, which would take them out of the pool of customers who get insurance through Idaho’s exchange, and cut a large chunk of spending that is driving double-digit rate increases.
Additionally, the plan would enable working-poor Idahoans to buy health insurance plans through the exchange. Under the new plan, about 38,000 of the estimated 78,000 people who are in the Medicaid gap would qualify for federal subsidies to buy insurance on the exchange.
The plan is expected to be discussed by the governor’s health care advisory panel when it meets on Thursday. (Idaho Statesman)
