Shawn O'Neal
Senior Regional Media Advocacy Manager
Lawmakers Roll Out Yet Another Bill Designed to Take Health Care from Tens of Thousands of Hard-working Idahoans
A Statement from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network on Idaho House Bill 345
March 3, 2025
BOISE, Idaho – – A bill that would serve to strip health care from thousands of hard-working Idahoans will be heard by the Health & Welfare Committee of the Idaho House of Representatives on Tuesday. House Bill 345 would make significant, damaging changes to voter-initiated Medicaid expansion and could keep cancer patients from their treatment plans and keep others from potentially life-saving screenings and regular visits with their health care providers.
Idaho ACS CAN advocates urge lawmakers to adhere to the will of the voters and the hundreds who have testified previously against similar legislation.
This statement from Meredith Wheeler, Senior State and Local Campaigns Manager for ACS CAN can be used in full or in part:
“With repeal triggers removed, House Bill 345 seeks to use a variety of Medicaid waiver policy mechanisms to accomplish a similar goal: Total loss and/or interruptions in health coverage for tens of thousands of Idahoans.
They talk of putting up guard rails. It seems more like a fence designed to keep people out of the program. Policies like work-reporting requirements, increasing out-of-pocket health costs for low-income people and making it more difficult to enroll and maintain enrollment in Medicaid by eliminating use of state data sources and requiring more frequent paperwork from enrollees just adds to government red tape and confusion for Medicaid enrollees.
From a cost-benefit perspective, this all adds to the staffing and infrastructure burdens of the Department of Health and Welfare with no clear benefit to the state, the state budget or the people of Idaho.”
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