{"id":3838,"date":"2012-01-17T15:00:52","date_gmt":"2012-01-17T22:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=3838"},"modified":"2012-01-17T15:04:25","modified_gmt":"2012-01-17T22:04:25","slug":"governors-new-normal-means-no-restored-funding-for-health-and-welfare-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/01\/17\/governors-new-normal-means-no-restored-funding-for-health-and-welfare-department\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor’s “New Normal” Means No Restored Funding for Health and Welfare Department"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Darin Oswald \/ Idaho Statesman<\/p>

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter gave his address from the floor of the Idaho Senate.<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the most prominent<\/a> issues last legislative session was a nearly $100 million cut<\/a> in combined state and federal Medicaid funding.\u00a0 For many observing Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s State of the State and Budget Address<\/a> last week, reinstated support for Medicaid was a key omission.\u00a0 Restoring funding to health and human services programs that have undergone deep cuts over the last four years did not make the governor’s list of budget priorities.<\/p>\n

“It sends a pretty clear message to people who rely on Medicaid,” said Katherine Hansen, Executive Director of Community Partnerships of Idaho, Inc., a Medicaid service provider.\u00a0“It sends a clear message that people with disabilities are not as valued.”<\/p>\n

Last year, service providers and people with disabilities worked with legislators and the state Department of Health and Welfare to craft the cuts.\u00a0 The idea, Hansen says, was that the changes would be temporary: the cuts would be a short-term way of getting Idaho through its budget difficulties.\u00a0 Referring to the money excised from state Medicaid spending last session, she said, “It feels very, very discouraging when, before that is restored, there is tax relief given.”<\/p>\n

With the Idaho Division of Financial Management<\/a> projecting 4.4 percent revenue growth for 2012 and 5.8 percent growth next year, the governor’s budget sets aside $45 million for unspecified tax cuts, and puts $60 million dollars into Idaho’s rainy day funds.\u00a0 “I guess it does speak to priorities when we\u2019re in a situation where we\u2019ve had substantial cuts in these public services,” Idaho’s former chief economist Mike Ferguson observed last week<\/a>. \u00a0“Rather than taking the available additional resources and putting them into restoring those things, we\u2019re going to sock them\u00a0away.”<\/p>\n

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