Idaho Voters Seeking Medicaid Expansion Bypass Lawmakers

Idaho voters are poised to wrest control over whether to expand Medicaid from the state’s overwhelmingly Republican Legislature with the planned submission April 30 of petitions seeking to bring the question before the electorate in a November ballot measure.

It’s an unlikely grassroots story of political neophytes bypassing lawmakers who have steadfastly refused to expand Medicaid for up to 62,000 people living under the poverty line who don’t qualify for coverage under Medicaid or premium subsidies on the exchange.

Efforts by lame-duck Gov. Butch Otter (R) to find a path short of expansion to aid the so-called gap population—a saga ...