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LSO reviews Department of Health and Welfare budget; Medicaid, hospital assessment and IT projects drive changes
Summary
Legislative Services presented a fiscal review of the Department of Health and Welfare budget, highlighting Medicaid-driven expenditure changes, the hospital assessment (upper payment limit) impact, the MMIS procurement and a governor initiative for childcare funding.
Boise — Alex Williamson, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, briefed the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on the Department of Health and Welfare’s fiscal picture and the governor’s budget recommendations for fiscal 2026.
Williamson told the committee the department’s recent appropriations and expenditures are heavily driven by trustee and benefit payments — primarily Medicaid provider reimbursements and assistance payments — and showed a five-year look-back indicating fiscal year 2023 included a notable increase driven largely by Medicaid adjustments. "About two thirds of that came from changes to Medicaid," Williamson said while explaining adjustments included population-forecast updates and the effects of the public-health emergency.
The presentation…
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