Since Joe Biden finally visited the southern border, I want to know when Brad Little is going to close Idaho’s borders. Who are all these people?
For the sixth year in a row, we are in the top tier of fastest growing states. We had a minor slip this year to the second spot, after coming in first for the previous five. Estimates have us a little north of 1.9 million. The state has more than doubled since I moved here to hunt mastodons in my youth.
No wonder the legislature sits on a budget surplus. I guess all these newcomers buy things and pay taxes. Those elderly legislators have reserved parking there in the Capitol garage, so they don’t see the crowds swarming in. And they go home when the legislature adjourns to their 500-acre gated ranches where the ag designation protects them from property taxes. I doubt many have a mortgage. Maybe some.
But they for sure have health insurance. Even if they are on Medicare, they can still get taxpayer paid health insurance as a state employee, even though they are part-time. Maybe they consider themselves full time now that we said they can call a session whenever they get a few colleagues to sign on. That health insurance benefit is quite a perk. Right up there with the reserved parking.
And now they are talking about how much it costs them to fund Medicaid expansion. They are still butt-hurt about that initiative that passed back in 2018.
I understand the worry about Medicaid funding. I watched the costs go up for years. Though I am proud to say, the 4 years I did the DHW budgets on JFAC, the cost increase was comparable to inflation. What we had no control over back then was the Catastrophic Health Care Fund for the uninsured. That cost doubled in ten years.
So here I am whining about all these folks moving in, but I don’t think we should be going back to “the good old days”. I saw a case of “the good old days” in the clinic a few weeks back. Fifty-year-old working guy made $200 bucks a month more than made him eligible for Medicaid. He didn’t go on the exchange, took his chances. His shortness of breath finally took him to the ER. They gave him an antibiotic and sent him home. When he couldn’t breathe the next day, he went back. This time they found the pulmonary emboli and the 10-centimeter mass in his chest. Who should pay for this?
He’s not going to be back at work for a while. The bill for the two ER visits would probably take his home and tools. Or they could go unpaid, and the hospital could cut a couple nurses from their staff. I wonder just what the Idaho legislature sees as a solution for this. I expect we’ll hear some proposals.
I am greatly disappointed that we haven’t made much investment to look at how we pay what we pay in the Medicaid program. A recent legislative study suggested Medicaid payment rates hadn’t been evaluated for many years. If you want to pay less, and I do, it seems worth evaluating just exactly what you are paying for and whether it is worth what you are getting. So, the Idaho legislature will gavel into session this week, the Governor has been inaugurated and the interns have been hired, trained, and warned. The bars in Boise have stocked their shelves, the reserved parking spaces are swept free of the pigeon droppings and our elected leaders will gather to serve our common good. All is well.