Why Does Idaho Pay For Healthcare Twice…?

Dear Editor,

Idahoans pay federal taxes that go to other states to help fund their Medicaid expansion programs. Then we pay taxes a second time to fund a program called CHCP. According to the Idaho Press Tribune, “Last year, the Idaho Legislature approved a request for $18 million for the Catastrophic Health Care Program (CHCP) — the program that meets the needs of the medically indigent in Idaho, according to a report on the Idaho Legislature’s website.”

CHCP has requested another $18 million for the 2018 fiscal year, according to the same report.

If you want to stop paying taxes twice and would like your federal tax dollars to stay here in Idaho to help your friends and neighbors get healthcare, please sign the petition to put Medicaid Expansion on the November ballot.

You can sign the petition at Women’s Healthcare — 1215 Michigan St., Ste. C — or Panhandle Art Glass — 514 Pine St. Find out more about how you can help at www.MedicaidforIdaho.org. Thank you from the 78,000 Idahoans who desperately need medical care.

Lee Christensen
Sandpoint

While we have you ...

... if you appreciate that access to the news, opinion, humor, entertainment and cultural reporting in the Sandpoint Reader is freely available in our print newspaper as well as here on our website, we have a favor to ask. The Reader is locally owned and free of the large corporate, big-money influence that affects so much of the media today. We're supported entirely by our valued advertisers and readers. We're committed to continued free access to our paper and our website here with NO PAYWALL - period. But of course, it does cost money to produce the Reader. If you're a reader who appreciates the value of an independent, local news source, we hope you'll consider a voluntary contribution. You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.

You can contribute at either Paypal or Patreon.

Contribute at Patreon Contribute at Paypal

You may also like...

Close [x]

Want to support independent local journalism?

The Sandpoint Reader is our town's local, independent weekly newspaper. "Independent" means that the Reader is locally owned, in a partnership between Publisher Ben Olson and Keokee Co. Publishing, the media company owned by Chris Bessler that also publishes Sandpoint Magazine and Sandpoint Online. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers - so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.