[Vision2020] Nothing forced Davis to stop Medicaid expansion

[Tom Hansen]

Rush Limbaugh declares that health care is a luxury that the poor don't deserve.
http://youtu.be/Lpx-hG1uaiA

Courtesy of today's (March 20, 2016) Lewiston Tribune.

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Nothing forced Davis to stop Medicaid expansion
By Marty Trillhaase
When Moscow Democratic Sen. Dan Schmidt tried to pull Medicaid expansion from the political graveyard otherwise known as the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, Majority Leader Bart Davis was ready.
Davis, R-Idaho Falls, understood Schmidt's desire to improve the lives of 78,000 Idahoans too poor to purchase health insurance on the private market.
"Many of us on this floor are sympathetic to the principles in this legislation," Davis said. "In time, rather than try to muscle through, I have confidence legislators will have an increased understanding of what's the right approach, the best approach going forward."
But for now, said Davis, the Senate has a system.
That system invests a lot of authority in its committee structure.
In this case, Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, chose to hold a truncated hearing on Schmidt's bill - and then promptly buried the measure in his desk.
So what if that means passing on a federal offer to pay for Medicaid coverage entirely for the first three years - and never less than 90 percent thereafter?
So what if it means forcing Idaho taxpayers to continue covering the medical bills of people who can't pay - usually after they've been treated in a hospital's emergency room?
So what if the lack of preventive care condemns as many as 800 of these uninsured, low-income Idahoans to premature death each year?
One of them was Davis' neighbor. Jenny Steinke of Idaho Falls died of complications due to untreated asthma.
So what if members of Idaho's clergy made a last-minute appeal to Davis and his colleagues to act favorably on Schmidt's motion?
That was Heider's prerogative and it's up to the Senate to back him, Davis said.
"I frequently, with few exceptions, support the decisions and the recommendations of our committees, because the committee process works," he said.
So Davis' fellow Republicans fell in line, and on a 28-7 party-line vote blocked Schmidt's efforts, ending any hope the Moscow Democrat might have of reviving the bill any time in this current legislative session.
But about that phrase Davis used?
"With few exceptions?"
Actually, there was one.
Back in 2005, members of the Idaho Building Contractors Association wanted to protect homeowners from unscrupulous contractors.
Their answer was to establish a statewide contractor registration system.
If a contractor proved to be incompetent, dishonest or unprincipled, the Idaho Bureau of Occupational Licenses could lift his registration.
The measure also made certain contractors were up to date on their workers compensation and carried at least $300,000 in liability insurance.
Sen. Robert Geddes, R-Soda Springs, the chamber's president pro tem at the time, had no use for the contractor registration bill. So he assigned it to a near-certain death in the State Affairs Committee.
Davis wanted the bill pulled out of the State Affairs Committee and reassigned to the Commerce and Human Resources Committee, where it had a stronger chance of success.
So he staged a revolt. Davis put Geddes' decision to a vote of the Senate floor. The Senate split right down the middle. Then-Lt. Gov. Jim Risch cast the tie-breaking vote by siding with Davis.
From there, contractor registration cleared the Commerce Committee by an 8-1 vote, passed the Senate and became state law.
For his efforts, Davis won accolades from his hometown newspaper, the Idaho Falls Post Register: "It was a gutsy move for Davis because losing carried real political consequences - and he did it out in the open."
All of which simply means Davis fought to safeguard the financial health of thousands of middle-class Idaho homeowners.
And he has opted to stand aside while the actual health of thousands of
low-income Idahoans goes unprotected.
No system forced Davis to make that choice.
Perhaps the senator would like to explain. - M.T.
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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" 
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
  
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