Proposed Medicaid cuts are the wrong move for Idaho

In shocked me and many of his own supporters, Gov. Little recently proposed cutting Medicaid by up to $118 million. This includes cuts to the Medicaid expansion program and also to traditional Medicaid, which provides health care services primarily for children and seniors.

These cuts are totally unnecessary. Due to COVID-19 and pent-up demand for health care, Medicaid expansion is predicted to cost the state of Idaho roughly $29 million additional dollars in fiscal year 2022. But here’s the truth that the governor is ignoring: The federal government has responded to the COVID-19 crisis by boosting Idaho’s Medicaid funding by over $100 million per year, and the Biden administration plans to continue this funding until 2022.

These federal relief funds will be more than enough to offset the increased costs of Medicaid. A recent budget analysis by Close the Gap Idaho predicts that by June of this year, the Medicaid budget will see a $63 million surplus.

It’s bad enough that our lawmakers would attempt to cut people’s health care during a time of so much economic uncertainty for so many Idaho families. It’s even worse that they would cut Medicaid at a time when there’s no financial reason to do so.

Finding money if needed for support of Idaho must be from other sources, not Medicaid.

JAN NEIL

Cocolalla