Butch Otter
Idaho is likely to get a federally operated insurance exchange, not the state-based plan favored by Governor Butch Otter as recently as last year, because it’s unlikely his administration will complete design work before a January 2013 deadline.
Otter made the comments to reporters Wednesday at an Idaho Press Club breakfast.
In November, his administration asked the federal government for an extra year to draft a state plan, but Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal has yet to hear back.
Otter says he’s watching a couple things: First, how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in a lawsuit filed by Idaho and others challenging the 2010 federal health care overhaul’s constitutionality.
And second, whether a Republican is elected president in November, since GOP candidates have promised to dismantle the overhaul. (AP)
