Latest news with #HouseBill345
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How Boise area's health care landscape has changed in recent months
Stories by Idaho Statesman journalists, with AI summarization Boise's health care landscape has shifted quickly in recent months. Lawmakers passed new rules, like House Bill 345, which adds work requirements for Medicaid expansion recipients and seeks to control costs through a network of providers on fixed budgets. Another bill would give medical workers the right to refuse non-emergency services, such as vaccines, due to moral or religious beliefs, raising concerns about access in rural communities. Lawmakers want to let doctors bow out of procedures that violate their beliefs. Former St. Luke's head says the bill 'misrepresents' medical ethics. | Published March 11, 2025 | Read Full Story by Sarah Cutler 'We want Idahoans to become as self-sufficient as possible,' Little said. | Published March 19, 2025 | Read Full Story by Sarah Cutler Several doctors opposed to the vaccine presented at the meeting. | Published October 24, 2024 | Read Full Story by Angela Palermo The former director of trauma care at Saint Alphonsus is suing the Boise hospital. This is why, and what Saint Alphonsus says about it. | Published May 2, 2025 | Read Full Story by Angela Palermo Here's how the seven board members voted regarding the health district that serves four counties. | Published May 10, 2025 | Read Full Story by Angela Palermo The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Idaho governor signs bill to privatize management, add work requirements to Medicaid program
Idaho Gov. Brad Little gives a press conference after delivering his annual State of the State address on Jan. 6, 2025, in the Lincoln Auditorium in the Idaho Capitol. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill that proposes sweeping policy changes to control Medicaid's costs. House Bill 345 calls for the state to seek work requirements for able-bodied Idahoans on Medicaid, and to give Idahoans eligible for Medicaid expansion access to tax credits to buy insurance on the state's health care exchange. The bill takes effect immediately — through an emergency clause. In both chambers of the Idaho Legislature, the bill passed on party-line votes, with all 90 Republican state lawmakers supporting it and all 15 Democratic state lawmakers opposing it. The governor's office announced in a news release that Little signed the bill Wednesday with bill sponsors. Journalists were not invited to the bill signing. 'We want Idahoans to become as self-sufficient as possible. House Bill 345 reinforces that goal while reasonably reeling in Medicaid spending so taxpayers are not overly burdened by this program in the outyears,' Little said in a written statement. About a month ago, the Medicaid cost bill was first introduced in an Idaho House committee. The bill calls for Idaho to plan to shift management of all Medicaid benefits to private companies, which is called managed care and is used by most states' Medicaid programs. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The new bill came after Senate Health and Welfare Committee Chairwoman Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree, halted another bill that would've likely repealed Medicaid expansion. An Idaho 'reform' bill would likely repeal voter-approved Medicaid expansion. Here's why. In his statement, the governor said the Medicaid cost bill 'is a huge improvement over a previous version that would have reversed voter-approved Medicaid Expansion in 2018.' 'The voters spoke loudly in 2018 with their votes, and as elected leaders we must continue to respect that. I am pleased House Bill 345 improves the Medicaid program without rejecting the will of the voters on Medicaid Expansion,' Little said. VanOrden cosponsored the approved Medicaid cost bill, along with Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d'Alene; House Health and Welfare Committee Chairman John Vander Woude, R-Nampa; and Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene. 'This bill truly does offer immediate savings for the taxpayers, as well as substantial long-term savings and stability to the Medicaid budget. And it deals with the entire budget itself,' Redman told a Senate committee in a hearing on the bill. Idaho Democratic Party Chair Lauren Necochea sharply criticized the bill. 'Governor Little and every Republican legislator just ripped health coverage away from thousands of Idahoans,' she said in a written statement. 'Voter-enacted Medicaid expansion largely covers working Idahoans, but it's also a lifeline for those who lose jobs, have hours cut, or need to care for a sick family member. These so-called 'work requirements' do nothing to help find jobs, but they will take away insulin, cancer treatment, and mental health services.' Beyond Medicaid expansion, the bill proposes broader policy changes for the entire Medicaid program — a health care assistance program that covers about 262,000 Idahoans, including low-income earners, people with disabilities, pregnant women, and some older people. Almost 89,400 Idahoans are enrolled in Medicaid expansion, a voter-approved policy that raised the income eligibility cap to cover a population commonly called 'the working poor,' who were in a health care assistance gap. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare plans to stand up temporary rules if the bill passes, a top Idaho health official recently said, since the bill will repeal agency administrative rules for Medicaid. The Medicaid cost bill could save Idaho $15.9 million in fiscal year 2026 and even more in the future, the bill's fiscal note estimates. But the timing depends on federal approval, the fiscal note says. Idaho Republican lawmakers have criticized the Idaho Medicaid budget for what many say is unsustainable growth. The mostly federally funded program's total budget has grown from less than $3 billion in fiscal year 2020 to $5.2 billion next fiscal year, if approved. But next fiscal year, Idaho would only pay $1.8 billion of the program's total budget, under the governor's budget request. It isn't immediately clear how the Medicaid cost bill's passage will affect next year's Medicaid budget. But a recent fiscal analysis found Idaho Medicaid's costs grew slower than other Idaho state government programs. And extra federal funds Idaho gets for Medicaid expansion generates $1.5 billion in economic impact and more than 9,300 jobs, another analysis found. The bill calls for Idaho to seek federal approval for patient 'cost-sharing,' which would require Medicaid enrollees to essentially pay copayments for services they receive. The bill also calls for Idaho to seek federal approval to no longer let state health officials automatically renew Medicaid for people based on publicly available information, or to use pre-populated forms. And the bill calls for Idaho to implement twice-yearly Medicaid expansion eligibility checks, up from the once-a-year eligibility checks Idaho Medicaid currently does. Other states' experiences and a federal watchdog report suggest costs for Medicaid work requirements are high, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. CONTACT US Some advocates say Medicaid work requirements are costly and are effectively just administrative barriers to access the program — since almost half of Idahoans on Medicaid are already working. And many other Idahoans on Medicaid, advocates say, would be exempt from work requirements under exceptions the bill spells out, such as for parents of children age 6 and under, people with disabilities, college students, volunteers and caretakers. The bill's proposed work requirements are nearly identical to Arkansas's work requirements, which saw one in four people lose coverage even though 95% of them met work requirements or were exempt, Idaho Voices for Children Senior Policy Associate Hillarie Hagen testified in Senate committee on the bill. 'This bill does nothing to improve efficiency or reduce costs in a meaningful way. Instead, it adds red tape that will strip eligible individuals of their coverage,' American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Idaho Government Relations Director Randy Johnson wrote in a statement after the bill passed the Senate. 'We've seen firsthand how bureaucratic hurdles cause people to lose coverage — not because they are ineligible, but due to unnecessary administrative obstacles.' Under the Trump administration, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved work requirements in 13 states — for the first time in Medicaid's history, according to KFF. The Biden administration rescinded the approvals. Several courts struck down states' work requirement policies, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Many of the bill's proposals require federal approval, and will likely take years to implement. In 2019, Idaho failed to receive federal approval — then by the Trump administration — for Medicaid work requirements and an exchange tax credit option, which are similar to the new bill's provisions. If the federal government cuts down on covering 90% of Medicaid expansion costs while the Idaho Legislature isn't in session, the new Medicaid cost bill would give the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare director broad power to enact cuts to the program — until the Legislature reconvenes. Congressional House Republicans recently approved a budget plan that calls for steep spending cuts that policy experts anticipate will require deep cuts to Medicaid. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Idaho Legislature's budget committee sets Medicaid budget close to governor's requests
The door to the JFAC committee room at the Idaho State Capitol building is pictured on Jan. 6, 2023. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) The Idaho Legislature's powerful budget setting committee on Monday set budgets for Idaho Medicaid — largely at levels the governor asked for. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on two similar 13-6 motions voted to allocate state and federal funds for portions of Idaho Medicaid, Idaho's largest state government program that offers health insurance assistance to roughly 262,000 Idahoans. JFAC's actions on Monday will create a budget bill, or bills, that need approval by the House and Senate to pass, and must avoid the governor's veto. The budget areas affected include extra funds for this fiscal year, which ends in June, and funds for so-called budget enhancements, which are essentially not barebones budget items, for the next fiscal year. The 2026 fiscal year starts in July. JFAC has already set Medicaid's barebones, or maintenance budget, which state lawmakers describe as funds that agencies need just to keep essential services going — without new initiatives. The largest chunk of funds JFAC set aside Monday were almost $674.2 million for Medicaid enhancement funds and trailer appropriations for fiscal year 2026, an 11.5% increase from last fiscal year. JFAC's actions on the budget area came in about $12 million less than Gov. Brad Little had requested. That 11.5% increase isn't just inflation, said Rep. Rod Furniss, R-Rigby, who moved for the approval of the enhancement budget items. 'So the 11.5% in the real world of health insurance has never equated to an inflation number, and it's probably more reasonable than we would realize,' Furniss told JFAC. 'This budget helps people that are indigent. It helps … mothers that are pregnant. It helps disabled people and children. … Unfortunately, this is a budget that we really need to take care of for our people. And sometimes we forget that,' he added. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Here's how JFAC's budget-setting broke down: Reducing Medicaid's budget by $15.9 billion in trustee and benefit expenses as a result of House Bill 345, a bill that is headed to the governor for final consideration that proposes sweeping Medicaid policy changes to save costs. Transferring about $1.5 million from Medicaid trustee and benefit expenses to program operating costs to pay contract consultants for work related to the Medicaid cost bill, based on estimates by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. The Medicaid budget's tense history in the Legislature wasn't lost in Monday's budget-setting hearing. Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene, who cosponsored the Medicaid cost bill, said the bill takes a new approach. 'This budget has always been one that people seem to tiptoe around. Nobody really gives it a bear hug now,' Bjerke told JFAC. The enhancement Medicaid budget approvals also included an extra $376.1 million for Medicaid Population Forecast Adjustments, which accounts for a range of things, including increased Medicaid utilization and increased state costs as a result of the federal government reducing Idaho's federal share of Medicaid contributions, through what's known as the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, or FMAP for short. (The federal government reduces FMAP rates for states as their economies outperform other states, and increases it as states' economics underperform other states.) JFAC also approved a motion to allocate more than $415.2 million in extra funds — mostly from the federal government — for this fiscal year, which is called a supplemental budget. Those funds are for five policy areas: $1.35 million for managed care external quality review, which are federally required outside evaluations of managed care organizations, which are private companies that manage Medicaid benefits. $659,500 for system configuration changes for the Idaho Behavioral Health Plan, Idaho's largest contract for managed Medicaid mental health care. $113.85 million for updated Medicaid forecasts, which are updated estimates by Health and Welfare for program costs through the rest of this fiscal year. That is entirely federal funds. $108.82 million for a capitation rate increase for Idaho Behavioral Health Plan contractors, which is due to higher-than-expected utilization of mental health care, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. That is entirely federal funds. $190.5 million for the Hospital Assessment Fund, which is part of a complex hospital Medicaid tax and state revenue structure. Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, moved for the approval of the supplemental budget items. 'These are supplemental. These are bills that have already accrued that we need to pay,' she told JFAC. 'And I do want to say that the managed care external review process is important, because if we are allow these taxpayer dollars, it is important to make sure that we are assessing this going in the right place.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What's next for Medicaid in Idaho? This bill is in Gov. Brad Little's hands
Idaho senators on Tuesday evening passed a bill to curtail the state's spending on its Medicaid expansion program, sending the bill on to Gov. Brad Little's desk to be signed into law. It was a sudden resolution to a monthslong effort by Republican lawmakers, who sponsored multiple bills this legislative session to slash the program's funding or even cut it entirely. The bill that won the day, House Bill 345, was an attempt to compromise on previous proposals. It includes removing a 'trigger' in a prior bill that would repeal the state's Medicaid expansion if it couldn't clear certain hurdles that critics called virtually insurmountable, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. The new bill also eliminates a cap on the number of people who can be enrolled in the program, and a limit on the number of months they can be enrolled over their lifetimes. A prior version sought to restrict it to three years. This bill 'is what I believe to be our balance,' said Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene. 'It's more than a balance. I think this is a great way for us to act.' Looking for other ways to save costs, bill cosponsor Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d'Alene, added new components to the bill, including 'managed care,' which provides a network of medical providers and oversight of health care providers to reduce costs. He also added a requirement for Medicaid expansion recipients to report their hours worked. Opponents of the bill raised concerns that those new components would add red tape, complexity and cost to the Medicaid expansion program. They said the work reporting requirement would be costly to administer, perhaps canceling out other savings the bill could offer. 'I am opposed to this bill because I do think it's going to increase costs,' Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said Tuesday. During a previous public hearing for the bill, opponents highlighted its similarity to a law passed in other states, which proved expensive and, in some ways, ineffective. 'When Arkansas implemented their (work requirement), it cost them $26 million before the court said stop,' Rep. Ben Fuhriman, R-Shelley, said during the hearing. 'When Georgia implemented theirs, they've already spent $80 million.' Redman's proposed work requirement is very similar to that of Arkansas, said Hillarie Hagen, a health policy associate at Idaho Voices for Children, in her testimony against the bill. And in Arkansas, she warned, one in four people subject to the work requirement lost Medicaid expansion coverage — even though 95% of those recipients met program requirements or qualified for an exemption. Bjerke said he believes Idaho can 'avoid some of the pitfalls' Arkansas and Georgia experienced. The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, required states to expand Medicaid coverage to continue receiving federal funding. But the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that requirement in 2012, leaving it to states to decide whether to broaden the list of qualified recipients. The Republican-dominated Idaho Legislature chose not to expand offerings to lower-income residents in the so-called coverage gap — those who earned too much to qualify for standard Medicaid but not enough for private insurance discounts. About 90,000 Idaho residents fall into that gap, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Idaho residents brought forward a successful ballot measure to close that gap in 2018, and Medicaid expansion has been in place in Idaho since then, the Statesman previously reported. But the cost of the program is 'not sustainable,' Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, said on the House floor last month. Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, said in a January hearing that the state program's expected costs went way beyond what lawmakers expected: from $32 million in projected costs in 2018 to $110 million in fiscal year 2026. Redman has focused on a need to cut the state's spending on the program's 'skyrocketing' costs, he said at a public hearing. The federal government pays 90% of the costs of Idaho's Medicaid expansion. But GOP lawmakers in the state raised concerns that the Trump administration might lower the payment threshold as it targets federal spending, and Idaho taxpayers could be left holding the bag. Little in February expressed reservations about cuts to the Medicaid expansion program. The two-term Republican governor said he was 'all about cost control,' but also said it was important to remember that Medicaid expansion 'was passed overwhelmingly by the public' just over six years ago. 'We've seen this play out': New bill to curtail Idaho's Medicaid expansion moves forward Gov. Little shares 'concerns' over Republican-led push to end Idaho's Medicaid expansion 'One accident away from bankruptcy': Idaho House passes bill to gut Medicaid expansion
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Medicaid work requirements, managed care bill heads to Idaho Senate
Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d'Alene, speaks from the Idaho House floor on March 10, 2025, at the Idaho Capitol Building in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Monday advanced a bill that proposes sweeping policy changes to control Medicaid costs. House Bill 345 calls for Idaho to seek work requirements for able-bodied Idahoans on Medicaid, and to give Idahoans eligible for Medicaid expansion access to tax credits to buy insurance on Idaho's health care exchange. The bill's proposal for Medicaid work requirements — which requires federal approval to implement — has drawn the bulk of opposition. CONTACT US 'This bill truly does offer immediate savings for the taxpayers, as well as substantial long-term savings and stability to the Medicaid budget. And it deals with the entire budget itself,' said Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d'Alene, who is cosponsoring the bill along with the chairs of the Idaho Legislature's health committees, and Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene. Despite largely negative opposition, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Monday advanced the bill to the full Senate — which could be one of the bill's last legislative hurdles before potentially becoming law. The new bill had unanimous support from House Republicans when the Idaho House passed it last week — a significant shift from another bill by Redman that would've likely repealed Medicaid expansion and narrowly passed the Idaho House last month. To become law, Idaho bills must pass the House and Senate, and avoid the governor's veto. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Beyond Medicaid expansion, the bill proposes broader policy changes for the entire Medicaid program — a health care assistance program that covers about 262,000 Idahoans, including low-income earners, people with disabilities, pregnant women, and some older people. Almost 89,400 Idahoans are enrolled in Medicaid expansion, a voter-approved policy that raised the income eligibility cap. But in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee hearing Monday, several members of the public said they worried about the bill's provision to repeal agency administrative rules for Medicaid. Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Deputy Director Juliet Charron, who oversees Idaho Medicaid, said the agency plans to stand up temporary rules if the bill passes. 'Rules serve a purpose. They provide a lot of important information for providers, for participants and stakeholders we work with. And so we certainly don't want to disrupt that important structure that's there, but we will need to make some updates coming from this bill,' Charron told the committee. The new bill would also call for Idaho to plan to shift to management of Medicaid benefits to private companies, which is called managed care and is used by most states' Medicaid programs. And the bill directs the state to end Idaho's use of doctor-managed care, called value care, a unique model that has existed for a few years. The bill could save Idaho $15.9 million in fiscal year 2026 and even more in the future, the bill's fiscal note estimates. But the timing depends on federal approval, the fiscal note says. Sen. Brandon Shippy, R-New Plymouth, said he was reluctantly supporting the bill, saying he had reservations about managed care. 'We may be creating a monster that … will live on perpetually here. And we might regret that,' he said in committee. Bjerke, who is cosponsoring the new Medicaid cost bill, said 'I hope it's not a monster. I wouldn't be part of it if I thought for a second that that was the case.' Bjerke also said the testimony he heard against both major Medicaid bills this year was 'almost identical.' 'There's a sense I have that really there's nothing short of keeping what we have right now, for some folks, that is going to be worth moving forward on. And I disagree with that,' he told the committee. 'I think we have an obligation to the state. Who we have an obligation to are the least of us — the most vulnerable. That if we don't get a handle on these programs, (it's) those people that will be affected the most.' Other states' experiences and a federal watchdog report suggest costs for Medicaid work requirements are high, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. Some advocates say Medicaid work requirements are costly and are effectively just administrative barriers to access the program — since almost half of Idahoans on Medicaid are already working. And many other Idahoans on Medicaid, advocates say, would be exempt from work requirements under exceptions the bill spells out, such as for parents of children age 6 and under, people with disabilities, college students, volunteers and caretakers. The bill's proposed work requirements are nearly identical to Arkansas's work requirements, which saw one in four people lose coverage even though 95% of them met work requirements or were exempt, Idaho Voices for Children Senior Policy Associate Hillarie Hagen testified. 'We should learn from other states and recognize: These just don't work as intended,' Hagen said. Under the Trump administration, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved work requirements in 13 states — for the first time in Medicaid's history, according to KFF. The Biden administration rescinded the approvals. Several courts struck down states' work requirement policies, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Idaho Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, was the only lawmaker on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee who voted against the bill. 'The work requirement causes me a little concern, a lot of concern. Only because I think the cost-containment could come is if people can't get the paperwork filled out, or we don't have the right software, or somebody misses up, then we're going to miss somebody's coverage,' she said. 'And I would hope that that's not what our intent is.' Many of the bill's proposals require federal approval, and would likely take years to implement. In 2019, Idaho failed to receive federal approval — then by the Trump administration — for Medicaid work requirements and an exchange tax credit option, which are similar to the new bill's provisions. If passed into law, the bill would take effect immediately through an emergency clause. Republican Idaho lawmakers have long worried about the federal government reducing its high match rate for Medicaid expansion. If the federal government cuts down on covering 90% of Medicaid expansion costs while the Idaho Legislature isn't in session, the new Medicaid cost bill would give the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare director broad power to enact cuts to the program — until the Legislature reconvenes. Congressional House Republicans recently approved a budget plan that calls for steep spending cuts that policy experts anticipate will require deep cuts to Medicaid. The bill calls for Idaho to seek federal approval for patient 'cost-sharing,' which would require Medicaid enrollees to essentially pay copayments for services they receive. The bill also calls for Idaho to seek federal approval to no longer allow state health officials to automatically renew Medicaid for people based on publicly available information, or to use pre-populated forms. And the bill calls for Idaho to implement twice-yearly Medicaid expansion eligibility checks, up from the once-a-year eligibility checks Idaho Medicaid currently does. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
