Reclaim Idaho has been collecting signatures for months in an effort to get Idaho to expand its Medicaid coverage. The petition to place expansion on the November ballot as a voter initiative was submitted yesterday with the requisite 60,000 signatures.
The organization is looking for a Medicaid expansion to cover more than 62,000 uninsured Idahoans under the Affordable Care Act; the state legislature voted down any bills exercising the expansion. Opponents to expansion fear state subsidy expenditures will continue to increase until it consumes the state budget.
Tracy Olson, Ada/Canyon County co-leader of Reclaim Idaho and Fred Birnbaum, vice-president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation join Gemma Gaudette to talk about expanding Medicaid to fill the uninsured gap and concerns about the cost to Idahoans.