In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in NFIB v. Sebelius that the federal government could not withhold funds from states for not accepting extra medicaid funds that were provided by the Affordable Care Act. The states had the option to accept them or not. These extra funds would give medicaid to those under 65 and were at 133% of the federal poverty level or who were not eligible for other insurance.
Expanding medicaid would do many good things for Idahoans. It would help 62,000 Idahoans get healthcare that currently do not qualify for medicaid or through the healthcare exchange. In addition, it would also create 14,000 jobs, generate $46,000,000 in revenue for the state, and save millions in state funds which currently go to indigent care services.
The best part? Our taxes wont go up. Idahoans have been paying for this program since 2012, but have just chosen not to use it. In fact, by using this program we’d be getting $500,000,000 of our own tax dollars back into Idaho.
Idaho’s legislature has refused to accept these funds. Over the years, there have been campaigns to get the legislature to change it’s mind or put medicaid expansion to a public vote. This year thousands of volunteers around the state garnered enough signatures to get medicaid expansion on the ballot. The medicaid expansion, Prop. 2, was officially given the green light by Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney on July 17, 2018 with 75,134 verified signatures (nearly 20,000 more than necessary).
Prop. 2 will literally help save lives. If you’d like to be a part of saving those lives, go vote on November 6th in favor of Prop. 2. The first step is to get registered to vote here and find your polling place here.
