Susan Sered

Uninsured in Idaho: Policy Brief

This brief is offered as a contribution to current deliberations regarding Medicaid expansion and healthcare reform in the Idaho state legislature. Idaho, like many other “blue” states, did not accept the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. As a consequence, Medicaid in Idaho, at this time, is only available to children, pregnant women, parents of children under the age of 19, disabled people and the elderly. Even within those categories not many meet the Idaho Medicaid criteria: A family of 4 must earn less than $650 / month to qualify.

Research Findings

In 2003 I conducted in-depth interviews with uninsured individuals and families in northern Idaho, south-central Illinois, Texas, Mississippi and Massachusetts. All 37 Idahoans – at the time – were in the work force, though many were struggling to maintain a level of health sufficient to allow them to continue working and caring for their families. As I wrote in Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity (University of California Press, 2015), I was struck by the “rugged Idahoans” who shared with me stories of swallowing handfuls of Ibuprofen each day in order to manage pain, using a pocketknife to shave off bone spurs from their feet, turning to friends who worked as aides at nursing homes for help bandaging wounds, and confronting medical bills of $100,000 or more in the wake of an accident or health crisis.

In 2015 I returned to Idaho and the other four states in which I had carried out research in 2003.

  • In Idaho I looked for 37 people and was able to re-interview 20 of the 37.
  • Five of the 37 were dead: all five had passed away prematurely (in their 40s, 50s or early 60s).

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One of the dead, who passed away at the age of 58, had worked in the mines his entire life. He left behind a wife and children.

  • Five are now recipients of SSI or SSDI by virtue of having become too disabled to continue working.

Jane used to work at three jobs: cleaning houses, doing laundry in a nursing home, and waitressing at a café. “Eventually I cut back to just the café job because it was my social life,” she explained, “but finally I couldn’t do it anymore. I even kept working through double pneumonia because I had to pay my bills, but eventually I had to stop because of my legs – you see my feet and ankles hurt and then turned black.” When she was finally diagnosed with diabetes at a free clinic she was told that she most likely already had diabetes for seven to ten years, but it had never been diagnosed or controlled. The staff at the free clinic would give her free samples of her medication whenever they had it available, but that was not a consistent source. At age 57 Jane was granted Disability (SSDI), but then had to wait two more years to become eligible for Medicare. By 2015 was able to access care through Medicare and Medicaid, but it was too late. She now is housebound.

  • Five now receive insurance through their employers and none of the five are able to cover their dependents through their employers. According to the Idaho Department of Labor, approximately 95% of Idaho businesses employ less than 50 workers, exempting the businesses from the ACA mandate to provide health insurance.

Marla and Peter, parents of three young children, were uninsured when I met them in 2003 and remained uninsured until a year or so ago. This was challenging because Peter has a blood disorder, ulcerative colitis and glaucoma. Throughout his adult life he has worked steadily for a company that he likes and likes him, but does not provide health insurance. When their kids reached school age Marla took an office job, but it did not provide health insurance. To take care of her family’s health needs, Marla drove them to doctors all over the northern part of the state – sometimes putting hundreds of miles on the car. At each office she would accumulate a manageable bill that they tried to pay off over time. Typically, the doctor would not see them again until they fully paid the bill. Knowing they needed healthcare coverage, Marla began to work for another small business owner who agreed to pay half of their monthly health insurance premium. But the remaining half was so high that after it was deducted from her salary she ended up taking home about $5 / hour. In 2015 she moved to a job with somewhat better insurance. Her premium now is $250 / month, but the deductible is $3000 per person and there are hefty co-pays and co-insurance.

Al, a farmer in his early 60s, was embarrassed to admit to liking “Obamacare.” But he certainly has benefitted from expanded healthcare access. Diagnosed with lung cancer a number of years ago, he had not been able to obtain health insurance before the ACA because of his pre-existing condition. During those years, hospital bills were as high as $300,000 annually, leaving him in horrendous debt. Now he pays $12 / month for insurance through the Exchange and his doctor is satisfied that “there are no new tumors.”

  • Four had moved out of state, primarily in order to access healthcare in Washington or other states that have expanded Medicaid under the ACA. No one in Idaho was receiving Medicaid in 2015.

Chris and Brittany, a vivacious couple in their thirties, moved from Idaho to Washington several years ago after Chris injured his leg on a construction job and the workers compensation ran out before the surgeries he needed were completed. While Chris was out of work Brittany took a job at a restaurant in order to tide them over. With her salary they earned too much for Chris to qualify for Medicaid and get his leg fixed. But without that salary they couldn’t survive. Today, they both are healthy and productively employed in the state of Washington, where they are raising their children and waiting for the day when it will be possible for them to return home to Idaho.

 Policy Recommendations

  • Senate Bill No. 1204, an act that proposes expanding Medicaid eligibility to persons under age 65 whose modified adjusted gross income is one hundred thirty-three percent (133%) of the federal poverty level or below, is an excellent first step towards allowing all Idahoans access to appropriate healthcare services and thus the ability to maintain better health.
    • Those with incomes below 133% of the federal poverty level cannot afford to pay for appropriate medical services. As a consequence, their health deteriorates and/or they amass medical bills that eventually are passed on to the counties or the state.
    • Idaho hospitals and clinics, for the most part, already accept Medicaid payments. Thus, the infrastructure is in place and implementation of this expansion should not involve additional costs or bureaucratic complications.
  • The proposed Primary Care Access Program (PCAP) is unlikely to substantially improve access to healthcare for Idaho’s low income residents.
    • While primary care is the core of any healthcare system, the reality of today’s complex medical world is that primary care visits alone are rarely sufficient for diagnosing or treating serious illness. For primary care providers it is frustrating not to have the capacity to send patients for tests, procedures or specialist care. Patients will find themselves in the frightening position of being told by a primary care provider that they need certain treatments but that the primary care program does not cover them.
    • There is no evidence that access to primary care alone, without parallel access to other medical services, improves the health of populations.
    • According to the published description, “The program requires payment for services on a sliding scale fee, which encourages greater personal responsibility for the patient’s own health.” Given that this program is aimed at people with very low incomes, it is more likely that fees will function as deterrents to care rather than as encouragement of personal responsibility.
    • In my research in Idaho I have never spoken with a single individual who can afford healthcare but irresponsibly chooses not to seek it. The most common reasons for not seeking care are: lack of insurance, deductibles that are too high to meet, lack of transportation to healthcare centers, inability to take off time from work during clinic hours.
    • By limiting access to healthcare to specific health centers, this proposal fails to address the needs of many Idahoans who do not live near any of the specified health centers.

 

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Acknowledgments: In addition to the uninsured and formerly uninsured individuals whom I interviewed, I spoke with Terri Sterling, ICAN; Charlotte Ash, Snake River Community Clinic; Ken Whitney, Jr., Mayor of Troy; Dr. Richard Thurston, St Maries Volunteer Clinic; Donald Duffy, Panhandle Health District; Moriah Nelson, Idaho Primary Care Association; Pam McBride, Clearwater Valley Hospital, Orofino; Ashley Piaskowski, Heritage Health, Coeur d’Alene; Dr. Ted Epperly, Idaho Healthcare Coalition and Family Medicine Residency of Idaho; Stephen Weeg, Board Chair, Idaho Health Insurance Exchange. I thank all of these people for taking the time to share their expertise with me. All opinions and errors are my own.

 

Contact Information: Susan Sered, PhD; Department of Sociology, Suffolk University; 73 Tremont Street, Boston MA 02108

Email: ssered@suffolk.edu

For more on this research see Health is Where the Home Is   Health Insurance Roulette: The House Always Wins   The State(s) of the Affordable Care Act