Otter, Cameron meet with top Trump official on health care plan

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) — Gov. Butch Otter and the state's insurance director, Dean Cameron, met with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar this past weekend in Washington, DC to talk about Idaho's plan to sell health insurance which does not comply with the Affordable Care Act.

This could be an early test of how the Trump Administration will enforce the ACA or Obamacare with which it clearly disagrees.

Under the Idaho plan, state residents will still be able to obtain coverage that complies with the ACA on the state's health insurance exchange.

But Idaho will allow other options, outside the exchange which are not ADA compliant.

The big question is the legality of doing that.

"We believe we are substantially enforcing the law as the ACA calls for," Cameron told KBOI 2News Monday. "Does that mean it has to be exact? I guess we'll find out what Secretary Azar's opinion is."

While Cameron called the meeting "good", he said Secretary Azar gave no indication how he was leaning.

Cameron also said Idaho's not necessarily looking for a green light from the feds but a "caution light" on how to proceed.

Critics claim the Idaho plan would allow insurers to discriminate against people with pre-existing medical conditions, in defiance of federal law.

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