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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Medicaid budget easily passes Senate, heads to governor’s desk

The budget for Medicaid for next year has passed the Senate on a 29-4 vote and now heads to the governor's desk; the bill, HB 682, earlier passed the House 52-14. It's for $474.2 million in state funds, $1.9 billion in total funds; that's an 8.7 percent increase in state funding from this year, 5.7 percent in total funds, and includes the $1.55 million that's being restored to Medicaid by reversing three of this year's service cuts for disabled people on the program. The federal government funds more than 70 percent of Medicaid, Idaho's health care program for the poor and disabled; the federal-funds portion of the Medicaid budget for next year is $1.2 billion.

Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, said he was voting against the budget as a "protest, because the federal government runs this budget. ... Much of it is out of our hands ... and that's really frustrating to me. ... When I see growth like this, I need to vote no."

Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, said, "I don't think any of us likes to spend this kind of money, but we have to remember, this is for the Medicaid program. ... As the federal government gets its house in order, we're going to have to make tough decisions here at the state level. But this isn't the year. This year, we're going to spend the money they send us and we're going to make sure the people who need these services get them."




Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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