Well, isn’t that generous? The Group Insurance Advisory Committee (GIAC), under the Office of Group Insurance (OGI) within the Department of Administration — ever the example of fiscal responsibility — unilaterally decided to extend the GLP-1 weight-loss drugs to the employee health benefits plan for the previous few years. But don’t worry, when it was first presented to the committee in 2021, the cost estimate was merely $10,000.
Except, oops…that wasn’t correct.
As it turns out, that “minor” addition to the benefits package has ballooned into a staggering $30 to $50 million (estimated) hit to the state budget. Yes, you read that correctly. 30 to 50. Million. Dollars.
That’s three to five thousand times more than what was originally projected. A 300,000% to 500,000% increase in cost isn’t a budgeting error — it’s a misappropriation of an egregious amount of money. Taxpayer money.
There are two major issues with this whole situation, and some critical questions need to be answered. The first problem is the utter lack of transparency. By all accounts, the public was not made aware of the benefits expansion and it was approved without legislative oversight, despite there being one senator (Kevin Cook) and one representative (Brooke Green) on the committee.
Even GIAC oversight was seemingly ignored in the September 5 decision to end coverage for GLP-1 medications. It appears the OGI consulted with the Director of the Department of Administration, Steven Bailey and the “Governor’s Office and Regence” rather than letting it go before the GIAC board again.
Second, the gross lack of accountability. On September 5, 2025, OGI released a memorandum stating the GLP-1 medications would no longer be covered effective November 1, 2025. After finding out about the massive cost of including the GLP-1 drugs, Senator Zuiderveld and the Idaho Freedom Foundation worked to get answers. Senator Zuiderveld sent an email to Director Bailey, with pertinent questions, but blame was quickly shifted and obfuscated. He stated it was before his time as director and conveniently sidestepped taking any responsibility.
Interestingly, however, in 2021, he was the Deputy Director of the Department of Administration and was indeed present at the committee meeting when the $10,000 estimated annual cost for GLP-1 weight loss drugs was first presented.
It was roughly 24 hours between Senator Zuiderveld emailing Director Bailey and the OGI removing the coverage of the weight loss medications. Because the situation has been “remedied,” they’re treating this as a closed case, correcting a minor mistake.
Fixing malfeasance after getting caught is not accountability — it’s damage control. The public was taken advantage of, legislative oversight was ignored, and now the players involved want a gold star for mopping up the mess they created.
We at the Idaho Freedom Foundation need answers to some pressing questions:
And the painful irony of all this is that the governor just called for holdbacks — a 3% reduction across most state agencies, excluding K-12 education. Meanwhile, the Department of Administration quietly flushed approximately $25.5 million down the drain on a benefit expansion that was misrepresented from the start, with millions more projected on the horizon.
This is not how government agencies should allocate funds. Benefit increases requiring public funds should be appropriated by the Legislature. We at the Idaho Freedom Foundation will demand more answers and follow up with all the details in the coming months. Accountability is a must.
When reached out for comment, Representative Green stated she is no longer on the committee; however, was there at the time and stated, “[she] hopes with the cancellation of these weight loss drugs, that the state will see savings for the healthcare plan costs.”
Senator Cook declined to comment on this issue.
