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Committee reviews Health & Welfare budget: Medicaid forecast, hospital assessment, MMIS and public-health grants
Summary
Analysts and the director briefed the House Health and Welfare Committee on a wide set of departmental budget issues including Medicaid population-forecast adjustments, a hospital assessment appropriation, the multi-year Medicaid MMIS procurement and several federal public-health grants and restorations.
The House Health and Welfare Committee received an overview of the Department of Health and Welfare budget that highlighted a mix of nondiscretionary forecast adjustments, ongoing implementation costs and federal grants.
Alex Williamson, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the department’s recent spending peak was driven largely by Medicaid adjustments and provider-rate changes. He said the agency’s FY24 appropriation rose sharply—about $670 million—largely driven by Medicaid population-forecast adjustments and changes to the hospital assessment and upper payment limit methodology.
Williamson said updated Medicaid population forecasts are a major driver of FY25 supplementals and FY26 maintenance requests. She explained the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for Idaho moved from 67.59 to 66.91, a change that reduces federal support and shifts some cost to the state.
On hospital financing, Williamson and committee members discussed a…
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