Medicaid for Idaho leaders held a press conference this morning to update their grassroots campaign to put Medicaid expansion on the 2018 ballot.
Volunteers have gathered over 10,000 signatures from registered voters since mid-December in an effort to get health care to 78,000 Idahoans and accept the $500 million in Idaho Medicaid money that's sitting in Washington, D.C.
"The reason we the people have launched this campaign is because our Legislature, despite certain legislators introducing bills to expand Medicaid, the leadership in the Legislature has failed to move this forward over and over, and meanwhile billions of dollars could have come to Idaho," said Sam Sandmire, co-chair, Ada County Medicaid for Idaho.
Medicaid for Idaho needs 56,192 signatures to get the issue on the ballot and has until May 1st to get them.