NH State Representative Steven Smith

You can’t make this stuff up. When House leadership pitched the expanded Medicaid program to us, the justification was twofold. If we didn’t pass it, we were giving up a half million dollars per day in federal funding and putting our budget at risk, and also we would deny 35,000-50,000 people coverage. It looks like state agencies didn’t get the same talking points. They are shocked that 11,000 people have signed up, and now there is a budget crunch. Are you kidding me? That isn’t even one third of a conservative projection. Maybe they could have coordinated a little better. Maybe they could have done some due diligence before passing the budget. Maybe they could have vetted their numbers before passing expanded Medicaid. To say that these signups are “unexpected” is beyond disingenuous. http://nhpr.org/post/medicaid-enrollment-jumps-11000-stretching-state-budget

Another great day in District 11! This is a very diverse and interesting area. I started the day seeing my daughter Jessica sing at the Charlestown Farmer and Artisan market. We bought some “bug-me-not” soap, made right in Acworth. From there, we went to Langdon to Olexandra Beck, who runs an animal rescue. Olexandra has saved many horses from slaughter, including one current resident who is the grand daughter of Secretariat. This horse won a few races, got injured, and was then marked for death. Instead, this horse is well cared for and retired right here in Langdon. We finished the day touring the wind energy facility in Lempster with Senate candidate Jerry Little. I’ll post more in depth information about each of these stops over the next few days.

Last night I went to Goshen to listen to the 8 candidates for the brand new Goshen School Board.  If you haven’t been following this story, Goshen-Lempster is breaking up.  Goshen has no school, so they will be sending their kids to other schools once this is all ironed out.  Currently, both Goshen and Lempster kids go to other high schools (Sunapee, Newport, Fall Mountain, Stevens, etc.).  The K-8 kids go to the local Goshen-Lempster School.  Now, those kids may go elsewhere, or even to multiple schools.  The 8 brave souls who have stepped up to form the new school board will have to figure out transportation, negotiate tuition with the surrounding school districts, learn insurance requirements, find out how a school board interacts with the host school board, etc.  It’s quite a thing.  While the problems to work out may seem overwhelming, many of the candidates expressed excitement and appreciation for the opportunity.  It isn’t very often that you get to shape what education for your town will look like.  Kudos to those who are up to the challenge.