In further testimony at today’s Health & Welfare public hearing:

Ahniah Selene Summers of Boise told the lawmakers that he’s been in a wheelchair since breaking his back and neck years ago. His problem came when he needed his wheelchair replaced. He went back and forth with Health & Welfare, Summers said, adding that he understands it’s a big costs – wheelchairs like the one he uses cost as much as $30,000. But the delays were a huge hardship on him, he said. “In effect I was made to be bedridden for 15 month – 15 months – while waiting for anew wheelchair.” The crowd gasped in sympathy. “People get sentences for crimes that are less than what I got for being disabled in Idaho and poor. … I had to wait until my illnesses were bad enough to go to the emergency room. This is unconscionable, come on. I shouldn’t have had to do that, and no one after me should have to do this. ... I am a viable person and I deserve to have just as much ... as the next person, regardless of my physical abilities.”

Robert Gehrke of Pocatello said, “We need to expand Medicaid with no waivers this session, even realizing that Obamacare will be repealed. … The waivers only delay implementation.” If lawmakers don’t act, he said, “Idaho will be left without any health care support. … It will be at the earliest a couple of years before a new health care law is passed by Congress and signed by the president, and another year at best to implement it. Don’t leave Idaho again without this needed comprehensive health care.”