Bill Description: House Bill 176 requires Idaho to replace its relationship with University of Washington School of Medicine with alternative institutions in the Mountain Time Zone.

Analyst Note: WWAMI is a program servicing states that do not have a government-sponsored medical education program. The word serves as an acronym that stands for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. The program is a joint effort between the University of Idaho and the University of Washington School of Medicine to train physicians. The University of Idaho administers the first two years of medical school for all Idaho medical students, who then can either do their clinical rotations in the Gem State or in Western Washington. 

Rating: +1

Does it transfer a function of the private sector to the government? Examples include government ownership or control of any providers of goods or services such as the land board’s purchase of a self-storage facility, mandatory emissions testing, or pre-kindergarten. Conversely, does it eliminate a function of government or return a function of government to the private sector?

This legislation does not transfer a function of the private sector to the government, nor does it do the opposite. WWAMI is a longstanding program and ending it in favor of another state-sponsored medical education program does not result in a net loss to the role of the private sector in this case.

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Does it increase government spending (for objectionable purposes) or debt? Conversely, does it decrease government spending or debt?

House Bill 176 does not explicitly change the funding amount allocated to medical education programs. It is possible that taxpayer funding would increase during the transition period between ending the WWAMI relationship and beginning a new relationship with another school. This is because existing WWAMI medical students would be allowed to finish their time at the school before state funding ends. This legislation limits the size of the replacement program to 60 seats — identical to the WWAMI program. It is also possible that Idaho state funds would be spent on comparatively fewer objectionable items and policies at another institution.

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Does it promote the breakdown of the traditional family or the deconstruction of societal norms? Examples include promoting or incentivizing degeneracy, violating parental rights, and compromising the innocence of children. Conversely, does it protect or uphold the structure, tenets, and traditional values of Western society?

The University of Washington School of Medicine has been in hot water for its use of faculty and students to staff Planned Parenthood clinics in Washington state. These faculty and students would encourage women who plan to get abortions to donate their unborn children to the school for research purposes. Then the school sells these deceased children to other institutions across the country. Such activity is illegal in Idaho, yet money appropriated by the Idaho Legislature still supports students as they participate in these programs or learn how to perform abortions on the Moscow campus.

The philosophy of government’s role in abortion and an unborn child’s right to life promoted by the WWAMI program is counter to that of the state of Idaho. Idaho’s most innocent have a right to life as recognized in Title 18 of the Idaho Code. It is improper for the state of Idaho to fund efforts to subvert this fundamental right.

In addition to its stances on abortion, the WWAMI program is also guilty of promoting LGBTQ, Critical Race Theory, and transgender-based medicine. These concepts are found in both basic courses that all students must take in the “Foundations Phase” of their medical studies and as electives that they take later on when they specialize. This indoctrination of woke ideology is enabled through funding WWAMI and it then extends to  the health care system statewide as students graduate. 

This legislation provides a path for Idaho to end its support for ideologies and practices running counter to principles of life, liberty, and the traditional family. 

(+1)