Testimony: Medical transport issues, funding, Alzheimer’s care, closing the gap…
Among those testifying at the joint “listening session” of the House and Senate Health & Welfare committees this morning thus far:
Darren Talley, with White Tail Transportation in Priest River, told the lawmakers that he and other non-emergency medical transport providers “request that you restore our funding back to 2009 levels.” He said a series of contracts have bid out the service statewide, through a brokerage arrangement, at lower and lower rates each year for the past few years. “Most businesses in Idaho cannot withstand a 31 percent cut in funding,” Talley said. “Just give us back the funding we had in 2009 before the brokerage system went into place.”
Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, told Talley, “We are aware of the non-emergency medical transport issues and we probably will both have hearings in our committees. So that issue we are looking into.”
Joe Raider of Moscow said he’s a person with disabilities who also works as a job coach, and the widowed father of two teenage sons. “I lost my wife in 2015,” he said. “I feel like the work I do is important, but because of the low rates received by the agency I work for, they must pay their workers minimum wage. The turnover at the agency is huge.” He also expressed concerns about his son's medical issues and lack of ability to afford insurance.
A couple from Sandpoint, Patrick and Jessica Rachels, shared their experience with a virus that’s dangerous to women who are pregnant, the CMV virus, and urged support for more education to alert people to the dangers.
Mike Berlin of the Idaho Alzheimers Planning Group, described a “broken system of care” about “who should be taking care of these vulnerable individuals, with families and first responders getting stuck in the middle.” Many Alzheimer’s patients develop behavior issues and are at risk for falls, he said; that is excluding them from certain care facilities. “Exasperated Idaho families have resorted to taking their family members to facilities in other states for treatment,” he said.
Lauren Necochea, director of Idaho Voices for Children, told the lawmakers, “Today Idaho stands at a critical juncture.” She said discussion at the national level about turning Medicaid into a block grant program to states could leave “Idahoans at the back of the line” if lawmakers don’t act. “We know that governors and states that expanded Medicaid are already lobbying to retain their care. ... States that expanded Medicaid outnumber the 19 states like Idaho that have been on the sidelines.” She said, “I urge you to consider carefully how we can best protect Idaho’s health care future and our state budget during this session Now is a dangerous time to pause, because doors could be closing that leave Idaho out permanently. Support for Idahoans is at an all-time high for closing the coverage gap, at 71 percent as recently as last month.”
