{"id":6230,"date":"2012-04-03T12:21:04","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T18:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=6230"},"modified":"2012-04-03T12:54:06","modified_gmt":"2012-04-03T18:54:06","slug":"session-wrap-key-medicaid-services-reinstated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/04\/03\/session-wrap-key-medicaid-services-reinstated\/","title":{"rendered":"Session Wrap: Key Medicaid Services Reinstated"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Scott Ki \/ Boise State Public Radio<\/p>

Medicaid recipients and advocates turned out to testify at a February hearing.<\/p><\/div>\n

A bill<\/a> that cut nearly $100 million in combined state and federal Medicaid spending was a flashpoint of last year’s legislative session.\u00a0 This year, the question was whether the Legislature would reinstate any of that funding and, if so, how much.<\/p>\n

Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter kept mum about state health and welfare spending<\/a> in his State of the State and Budget Address.\u00a0 Meanwhile, advocates for people with developmental disabilities and mental illness kept pushing.<\/p>\n

They held a roundtable discussion and press conference<\/a> weeks after the session got underway.\u00a0 In early February, the effects of the Medicaid cuts<\/a> were a main focus of a public hearing on the state budget. In the end, the pressure paid off.<\/p>\n

In late February, news came of a plan in the works<\/a> to reverse specific service reductions, at a cost of about $1.5 million.\u00a0 Namely, the bill reinstated preventative and restorative dental services for adults who are eligible for an institutional level of care through Medicaid.\u00a0 It also reversed a cut that forced people with dual diagnoses to choose between receiving skill training for a mental illness or for a developmental disability.\u00a0 Finally, it did away with a plan to impose a tiered budgeting system<\/a> on developmentally disabled adults.<\/p>\n

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