The Idaho Spending Index serves to provide a fiscally conservative perspective on state budgeting while providing an unbiased measurement of how Idaho lawmakers apply these values to their voting behavior on appropriations bills. Each bill is analyzed within the context of the metrics below. They receive one (+1) point for each metric that is satisfied by freedom-focused policymaking and lose one (-1) point for each instance in which the inverse is true. The sum of these points composes the score for the bill.

Analyst: Niklas Kleinworth

Rating: -1

Bill Description: House Bill 750 transfers a total of $55 million from the Basic Medicaid Program to the Expansion Medicaid Program for fiscal year 2025.

Does this budget perpetuate or expand state dependence on federal dollars, thereby violating principles of federalism? Conversely, does this budget actively reduce the amount of federal dollars used to balance this budget?

This legislation is trailer appropriation to reconcile changes made to the Medicaid program in House Bill 633. This legislation would allow for the continuous enrollment of postpartum mothers in the program for one year after having their baby. This is a change from the original 60 days of postpartum coverage.

This legislation is in-part, a shell game that allows the state to offload the costs of additional welfare benefits to the federal government. This is because the expansion plan offers a 90% federal match rate compared to the 68% match rate in the basic program. This increases the state’s dependence on the federal government to support more expansive welfare programs. With the national debt above $34 trillion and climbing, growing federal spending is not a win for Idahoans today or in the future.

(-1)