Gov. Butch Otter
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has named two working groups to study whether the state should establish an insurance exchange and expand Medicaid eligibility.
The 26-person list released Friday includes more than a half-dozen doctors, as well as numerous executives and lobbyists from insurance companies and hospitals. Though the list includes numerous proponents of establishing an Idaho insurance exchange, the Republican governor also added the head of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a free-market advocate demanding such reforms be spurned.
After suing the federal government over President Barack Obama’s 2010 law, Otter was disappointed when U.S. Supreme Court justices upheld it.
But the governor said last week he prefers to study consequences of an exchange and Medicaid expansion for Idaho, rather than quickly join those states trying to fight off the reforms. (AP)
