Despite a lot of cooking this session, the Idaho Legislature failed to make “soup” out of Governor Butch Otter’s health care bill.
After the proposal failed to get any traction in February, some lawmakers brought the plan back this week in a last ditch effort to provide coverage to some of the “gap” population: The estimated 51,000 to 62,000 working people who don’t qualify for Medicaid but can’t afford health insurance.
This time, the bill got stuck in a procedural debate that included anger, shouting and tears. But the majority of lawmakers decided the bill just wasn’t ready to be served.
“This bill will not go anywhere this year; it never was going to go anywhere this year for a variety of reasons, a bunch of which weren’t political. It wasn’t soup yet,” said Republican Fred Wood.
Legislators sent the soup back to the kitchen, effectively killing the health care plan this session. And that will have ramifications throughout the primary and beyond.
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