As the Idaho Legislature’s first major Medicaid cut legislation debuted Thursday, House lawmakers shelved the bill for almost a week.

House Bill 759’s fiscal note says it would cut $21.8 million in state general funds next fiscal year for the Medicaid budget by reducing rates that the state pays to residential habilitation providers, which care for people with disabilities. That cut is meant to come by pulling back funds for pay raises that the Legislature approved in 2022.

But the bill itself doesn’t include a clear mechanism for the cuts. It would require the Department of Health and Welfare to audit providers.

Asked in committee if the Legislature’s budget committee had guaranteed the cut, Rep. John Vander Woude, the bill’s cosponsor and the committee’s chairman, said his understanding was that the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee had already “penciled in that this would go through, and this will be out of the base budget.”

The bill would also repeal a set of administrative rules for Medicaid.

The cuts are coming after Idaho Gov. Brad Little called for $22M in Medicaid cuts

Idaho Gov. Brad Little called for $22 million in Medicaid cuts. His budget plan said that could come from cutting disability services.

The House Health and Welfare Committee voted to hold the bill in committee for almost a week, until March 11.

Rep. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, requested the pause. She said she believes lawmakers were on the right path, but more time would allow lawmakers to hammer out the language with stakeholders.

“We know that” it has to save money, McCann said. “And that’s what I think we need to work with, with a group, to redraft this a little bit,” McCann said.

The committee rejected on a 9-7 vote a motion to send the bill forward to the full House.

Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene, seemed frustrated the committee was turning to cuts for people with disabilities over cuts to Medicaid expansion. This year, some Republican lawmakers signaled they were open to cutting the policy to expand access to the health insurance assistance program, which Idaho voters approved in a 2018 ballot initiative.

“We’ve talked in the past in this committee about looking at cuts to Medicaid expansion, to different programs that have able-bodied working adults,” Redman said. “And unfortunately, now we’re looking at cutting for the most vulnerable because we have to balance our budget.”

Family members whose loved ones are on the service slated for cuts, as well as Medicaid providers, testified against the bill Thursday.

Most days, Tom Hemker said his 39-year-old son has outside help.

But Hemker said he and his wife spend much of their days helping their son.

Hemker said he and his wife are in their 70s, and that they worry what will happen to their son when they can’t help anymore.

“Do the right thing,” Hemker told lawmakers. “Maintain the current Medicaid funding for disabled citizens, so they can live in the places where they grew up, and where they belong.”