Medicaid is an investment that benefits everyone. It keeps parents healthy enough to work, guarantees care for neighbors with disabilities and seniors, and prevents families from drowning in medical debt. Just as importantly, it sustains rural hospitals and clinics that would otherwise be unable to keep their doors open.
Medicaid has always worked miracles with a bare bones budget. Unfortunately, constant attacks from Republicans in the Statehouse and Congress could make it impossible for Medicaid to carry out its mission.
The most recent hit to Medicaid stems from the hole the Republican supermajority blew in our state budget. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has announced a sudden 4% cut to Medicaid reimbursement for all providers and services, affecting everything from rural hospitals and nursing homes to school programs, disability care, and hospice care. Providers were given less than ten days’ notice and warnings that more cuts may follow.
The impact will be profound. Medicaid already pays less than private insurance, which means doctors, hospitals, and clinics often struggle to cover the costs of care. Rural hospitals and clinics may be forced to cut services or close. As the Idaho Medical Association warned, this will drive Idaho into an “access to care crisis.”
The terrible news comes on top of other reckless decisions by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Earlier this year, they eliminated Healthy Connections, the program that helped clinics treat Medicaid patients by funding primary care and preventing costly emergency room visits. This wise investment ends in January. The governor eliminated paid family caregiving for people with disabilities, even as we face a severe shortage of workers to address complex medical needs, like managing a child’s feeding tube. This left parents in the lurch, unsure whether they could safely leave their children and go to work.
Still, more cuts are on the horizon. Congressional Republicans, including Idaho’s delegation, rammed through the most significant Medicaid cut in U.S. history, despite pleas from voters. That decision strips health care from nearly 73,000 Idahoans and endangers rural hospitals and clinics.
Other forms of health insurance are also under attack. The Republican budget proposes cuts to Medicare and increases the cost of private coverage for Idahoans on Your Health Idaho.
In short, the GOP is creating a perfect storm. As Idahoans lose coverage, rural clinics and hospitals won’t be able to keep their doors open. This eliminates not only health care access, but also rural jobs and economic vibrancy.
This isn’t what voters want.
Idaho Democrats have opposed every measure that makes health care more expensive and threatens clinics and hospitals with closure. There’s only one way to deliver the leadership Idahoans deserve, and it’s through the ballot box. Let’s do it.
Onward,
Lauren Necochea
Idaho Democratic Party Chair