Idaho is a seemingly unlikely place for a big Obamacare win, but it appears to be a real possibility this November. Against very tough odds, activists look to have succeeded in getting a Medicaid expansion initiative on the ballot. The state has until July 5 to certify that there are enough signatures to qualify the initiative, but organizers succeeded in getting enough extra signatures for cushion so that failure is unlikely. That success is making strange things happen, like turning a "down-the-line partisan who supports President Trump, opposes abortion and boasts an A-plus rating from the National Rifle Assn" Republican into a Medicaid expansion supporter.
State Rep. Christy Perry told the Los Angeles Times, "People should be working and you should be carrying your own weight. […] But we can't just assume all people are created equal in this regard, because sometimes they're not, and there are people who struggle with things through no fault of their own." One of the activists who spearheaded the expansion drive in Idaho, Luke Mayville, points to the awakening that's happening around the country on healthcare, and the realization that we've got a pr*sident who would happily destroy it all. "Trump has polarized people around this issue and drawn the lines very clearly," says Mayville.
Perry, the conservative lawmaker, said it's time to move past repeal, which has been Republican holy writ, and find ways to improve the Affordable Care Act.
"We need to take care of the people," she said over coffee in Nampa, a Boise suburb she has represented in the state House for the last eight years. "Then we need to be able to come back and work on the policy."
You don't need to look much further than Idaho to see how defining an issue this is going to be for 2018. But you can if you want to. How about Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans? After nearly a decade of fighting to take our health care away, they're finally running scared.
Please give $1 to our Senate and House funds so that Republicans pay the price for sabotaging our health care.