Citizens Turn Out in Support of Medicaid
Boundary County citizens rally on Feb. 17 to help support the protection of Medicad.
In conjunction with other Idaho cities, more than 45 Boundary County citizens turned out on Feb. 17 in support of protecting Idaho Medicaid rights.
The rally, held in downtown Bonners Ferry outside the Visitor's Center, was in direct response to Gov. Butch Otter's recent recommendation of cutting more than $38 million of the state's health care program, including $25 million of the state's Medicaid funding.
The speakers at the rally included Gini Woodward and Mary Hubbell both mothers of children with disabilities that require their children to live away from Bonners Ferry due already to lack of adequate community services funded by Medicaid.
These women talked of the heartbreak and difficultly of not having their child being able to live near them and their families.
Colleen Bolles, also a parent of an adult child with Down Syndrome, spoke of the Medicaid services that her son currently receives and how these services allow him to remain in her home instead of being moved to a state funded institution. This option to remain at home, Bolles felt, was not only in the best interest of her son but was also a much less expensive benefit for the state to fund in the long run.
Master of Ceremonies, Lisa Robbe, who serves on the Governor's Council of Developmental Disabilities and as an administrator of Partnerships for Inclusion was very pleased with the turn out on Saturday's rally.
Robbe sited the fear in community members, due to Otter's recent announcement, and pointed to the signs that some rally attendees held that said, "I would rather live in my community than an institution."
Robbe also mentioned the frustration that these families were feeling due to the lack of appeared interest for Idaho politicians to look at any other methods to fund Medicaid in Idaho, including raising the sale's tax a half percentage or looking at increasing the cigarette tax.
For those interested in learning more about protecting Idaho Medicaid, please contact Lisa Robbe at 660-2519 or Candy Beck at 290-3766.