With no insurance mandate, taxpayers are paying again for some Idahoans' medical care [View all]

Caseloads for Idaho’s Catastrophic Health Care Fund have taken a sharp upturn this year, and they’re expected to continue to rise as more Idahoans are priced out of health insurance or decide not to purchase it as the federal government lifts its individual mandate.

Roger Christensen, board chairman for the state fund and a Bonneville County commissioner, told state lawmakers Thursday that the increase doesn’t appear to be a blip.

“We’re sensing that this is more of an upward trend,” he told the Legislature’s joint budget committee. “We look down the pipeline of what’s come into the counties, and they’re very, very busy again.”

Appropriations for the CAT fund, which helps counties pay for the costliest cases when Idahoans who can’t pay their catastrophic medical bills turn to local property taxpayers for help, had been growing for years, but that trend turned around when the Your Health Idaho insurance exchange was established in 2013.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article199573099.html