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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Nearly all of Idaho’s Medicaid spending goes to provider payments

Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health coverage for the poor and disabled, makes up 80.5 percent of the total Department of Health & Welfare budget, Medicaid administrator Leslie Clement told a joint meeting of JFAC and the House and Senate health and welfare committees today. Within Medicaid, 96.9 percent of the state appropriation goes to payments to providers. Idaho's Medicaid program has seen a 21 percent jump in enrollment from fiscal year 2007 to  today; there are now 223,198 Idahoans on Medicaid. The top five cost drivers for Medicaid in Idaho are hospitals, nursing facilities, developmental disability services, in-home services and prescription drugs.



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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