SCR 112, a resolution asking the state Department of Health & Welfare to make changes in its program that covers adults with cystic fibrosis, has passed the Senate on a unanimous vote, and now moves to the House. Earlier, JFAC agreed to the plan after the Senate passed legislation to do away with the treatment program - even though senators warned people would die as a result - but the bill stalled in the House Health & Welfare Committee. The plan crafted by Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, and others funds the program for one more year at about its current level, but orders Health & Welfare to establish financial eligibility criteria, move uninsured people on the program to the state's high-risk reinsurance pool, and take other money-saving steps.

Sen. John McGee, R-Caldwell, said the $205,000 in funding for next year "doesn't come close" to meeting the needs of those currently in the program, "in terms of their medications, in terms of their hospitalization," so changes in the program must be made. "This does not affect children with cystic fibrosis one bit," he noted. "Children with cystic fibrosis are covered under a federal program." McGee called the resolution "a fair and equitable way to approach this issue."

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