Forum to examine Medicaid changes

COEUR d'ALENE - The League of Women Voters is sponsoring a forum on Medicaid expansion in Idaho next week to explain what it means to every resident in the state.

"Medicaid Funding: You Are More Involved than You Think" will be the subject of a forum, scheduled 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Community Room of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.

The forum will be moderated by local physician Robert McFarland, who is the immediate past president of the Idaho Medical Association.

Speakers will include County Commissioner Jai Nelson, Heritage Health CEO Mike Baker, retired physician and Kootenai Health Trustee Neil Nemec, Heritage Health Patient Outreach and Enrollment Coordinator Ashley Piaskowski and Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Manager Region 1 Medicaid Primary Care Case Management Program, Meg Hall.

According to event organizer Joyce Bergen, Gov. Butch Otter's Workgroup on Medicaid Redesign recommended: "Idaho should expand Medicaid through a hybrid model that utilizes care management and private insurance coverage to provide 103,000 low-income Idahoans with access to health insurance."

"Exploring this recommendation and the practicalities and implications for our county and state will be the focus of this forum," Bergen said.

Providing uninsured Idaho residents with health coverage by expanding Medicaid - while being fiscally responsible, creating jobs, saving lives and creating economic opportunity - will be the subjects discussed by the panel, she said.

The forum is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Kootenai County, the Kootenai-Benewah Medical Society, Heritage Health and the Margaret W. Reed Foundation. It is supported by the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce.

The contact for this event is Barbara Arnold, [email protected].