Exchange started with bang, now just a whisper

BOISE (AP) — To start the 2012 Legislature, many predicted an Idaho insurance exchange would be a key issue to be resolved before lawmakers left Boise.

But what started as a bang is ending with a whisper.

Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill said Friday he doesn't see an exchange as part of the "going-home package."

The exchange was envisioned by President Obama's 2010 health care overhaul as an online shop for people to compare and buy insurance.

Idaho had $20.3 million from the federal government to establish it.

Many predicted fireworks over the matter, because Idaho insurers wanted to tap the federal cash, over the objections of conservative lawmakers who hate "Obamacare."

The conservatives appear to have won.

An exchange — with or without federal funding — hasn't even gotten a hearing.