BOISE -- Congress might not vote on health care legislation until 2010, but that hasn't stopped Idaho lawmakers from debating the issue -- and how the state should respond, if something actually is passed.
On Wednesday afternoon, the state Legislature's interim health care task force plans to discuss if Idaho should participate in any so-called "public option" -- the name being given to a proposed government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurance.
On hand will be representatives of the state's hospitals and doctors, insurance companies and business.
Steve Millard, who heads up the Idaho Hospital Association, said it's premature for lawmakers to make a final decision because nobody knows what a final bill coming from Washington, D.C., will look like.
Millard says, "There's not enough meat on the bone."
Alex LaBeau, head of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, says companies' fear reform measures will add to their costs.
