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Lawmakers offer budget recommendations to JFAC, urge review of Medicaid pharmacy costs and program transfers
Summary
Committee members proposed recommendations to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC), including transferring LIHEAP and weatherization programs to an energy agency, reviewing $500 million in Medicaid pharmacy spending, considering block grants for substance abuse funding, and easing internal transfer limits in the mental-health budget.
Members of the Idaho House Health & Welfare Committee reviewed areas of the Health and Welfare budget and offered recommendations for the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC), including program transfers, targeted reviews of high-cost areas and greater use of block grants.
Representative Kaler, who said she and Representative Redmond reviewed the Medicaid budget, urged a detailed review of pharmacy spending. “There was over $500,000,000 spent in fiscal year 2022,” she said, and asked the committee to seek information about which drugs and which patients drive that cost.
Kaler and others suggested shifting some low-income energy programs out of the Department of Health and Welfare. Kaler proposed moving the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Weatherization Assistance Program to…
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