Committee OKs sending bill to codify Medicaid as payer of last resort

The Idaho Senate Health & Welfare Committee voted to send House Bill 31 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation after a brief presentation and no committee questions.

Jared Larson, legislative and regulatory affairs chief at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee the bill “guarantees that Medicaid is always the payer of last resort.” He said the measure responds to federal legislation requiring that language be included in Idaho’s Medicaid law.

The bill addresses a narrow circumstance Larson described in which a person covered by both Medicaid and private insurance faces a prior-authorization requirement under the private plan: if Medicaid authorizes the service, the private insurer may be required to pay because Medicaid is the payer of last resort. Larson described that circumstance as “not very common” and said the bill’s primary purpose is to put the federal requirement into state statute.

Senator Blaylock moved to send House Bill 31 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

No amendments or fiscal details were discussed in committee and no public testimony was recorded in the transcript. The bill’s sponsor on the House side was identified in committee as Representative Redmond; Senator Blaylock and Senator Harris were named as legislative carriers in the Senate.

The committee record does not include a roll-call tally for the committee vote, only a voice vote in which senators present answered “aye.”

The committee also approved the minutes from its Feb. 10, 2025 meeting at the start of the session.