County Reps Split on Medicaid Plan

CONCORD — The Belknap County Delegation split largely along party lines when the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 202 to 132 in favor of the Senate plan to use federal Medicaid funds to provide private health insurance for adults earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty limit, or $15,856 for a single person.

Ten of the 11 Republican members present voted against Senate Bill 413 when it came up for a vote last week — Reps. Richard Burchell of Gilmanton, Guy Comtois of Barnstead, Jane Cormier and Stephen Holmes of Alton, Dennis Fields of Sanbornton, Bob Greemore and Herb Vadney of Meredith, Bob Luther and Frank Tilton of Laconia, and Michael Sylvia of Belmont. Reps. Colette Worsman of Meredith and Charles Fink of Belmont were absent and did not vote.

Rep. Don Flanders of Laconia, the other Republican present, joined the five Democrats in the delegation — Reps. Beth Arsenault and David Huot of Laconia, Lisa DiMartino of Gilford, Ruth Gulick of New Hampton and Ian Raymond of Sanbornton — in support of the bill. Flanders was among only a dozen House Republicans who voted for the plan, which earlier carried the Senate by a bipartisan majority of 18 to 5.