Senate Health & Welfare committee advances HB 345 after hours of debate over managed care, work rules and disability protections

The Idaho Senate Health & Welfare Committee voted to send House Bill 345, the "Medicaid Affordability and Healthcare Access Act," to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation after more than three hours of testimony and questioning on March 11, 2025.

The bill, presented to the committee by Representative Jordan Redmond of Kootenai County, would repeal and replace prior language, expand use of comprehensive Medicaid managed care, authorize modest Medicaid cost-sharing, add provider practice-authority protections and create site-neutral payment policies. Redmond told the committee the changes are intended to limit uncontrolled growth in the Medicaid budget. "Without some meaningful reforms, we are headed for some very difficult decisions," Representative Jordan Redmond said, noting Idaho's Medicaid budget rose about 11% this year on a multibillion-dollar program.

Supporters and opponents framed the debate around two central questions: whether managed care and work requirements would contain costs without harming access to care, and whether the bill's removal or consolidation of some administrative rules would leave people with disabilities and providers insufficiently protected.

What the bill would do and why sponsors say it is needed Representative Redmond said HB 345 would remove language from last year's House Bill 398 but replace it with new provisions intended to improve long-term savings and accountability statewide. Key elements he described: a comprehensive move to Medicaid managed care with a capitated payment model intended to add budget certainty; limited Medicaid copayments to…