Gearing up to get votes for Medicaid Expansion

A cow stood in the middle of a rural Idaho road on June 27, in front of the Reclaim Idaho “Medicaid Express.”

The large RV, painted green and with the words “Vote Yes for Medicaid” plastered on its sides, was unable to proceed.

“We were there on that road somewhere between Donnelly and McCall, and it struck me that that cow is about the stiffest resistance we’ve encountered, about the only resistance,” said Luke Mayville on Thursday morning in Coeur d’Alene.

That resistance would be toward expanding Medicaid in Idaho, which would provide health coverage for roughly 62,000 adults who make too much to qualify for Medicaid and not enough to be eligible to purchase health coverage through Your Health Idaho, the state’s health insurance exchange created under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

From December until April 30, Reclaim Idaho volunteers worked throughout the state to collect the 56,192 signatures required to put Medicaid expansion on the statewide election ballot in November.

Mayville, who helped initiate Reclaim Idaho, spoke to about 30 people who turned out to meet the Reclaim Idaho “Medicaid Express” when it made a brief stop outside the Human Rights Education Institute Thursday in downtown Coeur d’Alene. Three Democratic candidates — Rebecca Schroeder, who’s running for a legislative seat; Cristina McNeil, who’s running for Congress; and secretary of state candidate Jill Humble — were in the crowd that cheered as the green converted RV pulled into the parking lot.

Roughly 5,000 signatures were collected in Kootenai County. “No one would have predicted that back in December,” Mayville said.

He said, as he and others have traveled throughout Idaho, they have seen bipartisan support for expansion and gathered signatures from Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters.

Reclaim Idaho’s arguments for Medicaid expansion go beyond providing coverage to those 62,000 people who now fall into the gap where they have no affordable health coverage.

“We’re already paying for it,” Mayville said, through catastrophic health care costs paid for by county tax dollars in Idaho and in federal taxes paid by Idahoans and now being used to fund Medicaid expansion in other states.

If Medicaid is expanded in Idaho, the federal government would pay 90 percent of the cost to cover those now without coverage.

Whenever a state has expanded Medicaid, Mayville said, and 32 states have, it generates jobs and reduces the risk of rural hospitals closing.

“It’s the compassionate thing to do, but it’s also fiscally responsible,” Mayville said.

As the signature drive transitions to a campaign for votes in favor of the initiative, some resistance is mounting, although polling shows a majority of Idahoans across all political lines support Medicaid expansion.

Still, the Idaho Republican Party adopted a resolution opposing the initiative at its convention last week in Pocatello.

Betsy Russell, with the Idaho Press-Tribune, reported earlier this week that Brad Little, the party’s nominee for governor, hasn’t taken a position, saying he’ll respect the will of the voters.

Reclaim Idaho volunteers and organizers will gather in Boise today to turn in the verified signatures to Lawerence Denney, the Idaho Secretary of State. Denney will have the final say on whether the signature drive meets the requirements to have the initiative on the ballot, although signs are good it will.

Suzanne Marshall, of Coeur d’Alene, who helped gather signatures in Kootenai County, said Thursday outside the Human Rights Education Institute, that the most important thing now is for people to go vote.

She said she did not encounter great resistance to the initiative during the signature drive.

“There are a lot of compassionate people on all sides who understand not everyone can afford corporate, capitalistic health care,” Marshall said.