MEDICAID: Key election question

First, I congratulate Luke Mayville of Reclaim Idaho and his supporters for landing the Medicaid Expansion Initiative on the November ballot. The campaign overcame the many obstacles, approved by the Legislature, to hamstring citizen initiative drives.

Secondly, I have a request for Editor Mike Patrick.

When the fall campaign heats up, will your newspaper ask each local legislative candidate this question: “Will you respect the will of Idaho residents if the Medicaid Expansion Initiative passes?”

I’m afraid some of our 2019 legislators will follow the intentions of Congressman Raul Labrador, who said in April that he might work to overturn the initiative if he won the Republican primary nod for governor. We won’t get to see such a scenario play out because Labrador lost to Lt. Gov. Brad Little. Commendably, Little has said he will accept the outcome of the Medicaid expansion vote.

I’m not confident that Republican legislators will follow Little’s example and respect the will of the voters next session. At the state convention, Idaho Republicans passed a resolution opposing the initiative. And Wayne Hoffman of the too-influential Idaho Freedom Foundation is pushing the ridiculous idea that the churches can voluntarily provide health care coverage for Idaho’s 62,000 working poor.

Legislators can easily overturn the results of an initiative. They did so in 2002 by upending voter-approved term limits and overriding then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s veto.

Candidates should be pinned down on this important issue before the November elections.

D.F. ‘DAVE’ OLIVERIA

Coeur d’Alene