State spends $195,000 to study Medicaid expansion

BOISE (AP) - The state is spending $195,000 for two out-of-state consulting firms to examine expanding Medicaid coverage in Idaho for more low-income people under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare says.

The Idaho Business Review reported the state is paying Utah-based Leavitt Partners $100,000 and Seattle-based Milliman $95,000.

Information from the firms is being used by work groups formed by Gov. Butch Otter to scrutinize whether Idaho should expand Medicaid coverage. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the insurance overhaul, but concluded states like Idaho couldn't be punished for not expanding Medicaid coverage. Consequently, Otter formed the Medicaid panel to look into the best course of action for Idaho.

"This work has been contracted so the Medicaid expansion work group has all the tools it needs to make an informed recommendation to the governor," Health and Welfare spokeswoman Niki Forbing-Orr said.

Leavitt Partners consulting firm released a report in September estimating that expanding Medicaid coverage in Idaho could mean up to an additional 111,500 Idahoans in the program in 2014.

The Medicaid work group is scheduled to meet Oct. 23, but Forbing-Orr said she didn't know if Milliman's latest report will be finished by then. Otter has until November to make a decision about expanding the Medicaid program.

A separate working group, also appointed by Otter, is examining whether Idaho should establish a state-run insurance exchange that's required by President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.