The government shutdown is over. What does that mean for Idaho?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Federal shutdown ended after 43 days with no deal on health insurance tax credits
- 130,000 Idaho residents should see full SNAP benefits within days
- Thousands of Idaho could decide not to renew health insurance without subsidies
Idaho residents who rely on food assistance are expected to soon get their full benefits, and furloughed workers will return to work after Congress negotiated a deal to reopen the federal government.
Congress passed a bill this week to keep the government open through January, and President Donald Trump signed it Wednesday night following the 43-day shutdown, the longest in the country’s history. The bill also funded the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — often referred to as food stamps — through September.
About 11,000 workers in Idaho are employed by the federal government, excluding military employees, according to the Office of Personnel Management. Those workers, who were furloughed or continued working without salaries, should receive back pay.
Here is what Idaho residents can expect now.
When will full SNAP benefits be distributed?
SNAP recipients can expect to see their full benefits within days, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said Thursday.
The news comes after weeks of chaos and confusion over the food assistance program that 130,000 Idaho residents rely on to buy food for themselves and their families.
At the end of October, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said SNAP benefits would lapse because of the ongoing shutdown. A number of states sued. The Trump administration fought rulings that would have required the Department of Agriculture to use emergency funds for the program, and the issue reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
Earlier this week, the nation’s highest court extended a pause on distributing the benefits as the government appeared likely to reopen soon.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said on its website it would start paying out reduced benefits this week. On Thursday, spokesperson AJ McWhorter told the Idaho Statesman the department expects to receive the funding no later than Friday. Full benefits should be available to SNAP recipients within two days after the state gets that money, he said.
During the lapse, the number of people using food pantries and other community resources spiked. Earlier this month, the Idaho Foodbank said a food locator on its website has seen six times as much traffic as this time last year. The organization’s over 400 partners across the state, which include food pantries in communities and at schools, had also been seeing upticks in people using their services.
No deal on health care subsidies
The government shutdown ended with no agreement over whether lawmakers would extend the enhanced premium tax credits that make health insurance cheaper for families across the country and are set to expire this year. If lawmakers don’t extend those funds, some families could end up needing to pay significantly more to keep their health insurance.
Idaho families are shopping for health insurance now and seeing spikes in their premiums because they don’t include those subsidies, said Hillarie Matlock, policy director at Idaho Voices for Children.
“They’re seeing what that price tag is going to be without the enhanced premium tax credits, and so they’re getting that sticker shock of, ‘Oh my goodness, this is significantly more,’” she told the Statesman.
For some families, those costs might be double or triple what they were previously paying, which could mean they’ll decide to forgo health insurance.
“When people go uninsured, they delay going to the doctor and getting their preventative care visits. They delay going to seek medical care unless it’s an emergency,” Matlock said. “And when people delay getting their preventative care, then they miss opportunities to catch things early, like cancer, and address other issues that in the long run, when they go untreated, become more catastrophic.”
Pat Kelly, the executive director of Your Health Idaho, Idaho’s health insurance marketplace, said he would expect to see about 25,000 people cancel their coverage over affordability concerns if the tax credits aren’t renewed. About 135,000 people are currently enrolled through Idaho’s marketplace.
He encouraged people to take advantage of Your Health Idaho’s network of agents and brokers to help them find a plan that works for them and not to wait until Dec. 15, when open enrollment closes, to start shopping for insurance.
Head Start child care centers in Idaho
As the shutdown stretched into November, Head Start, an early childhood education program under the Department of Health and Human Services, also lost funding, and families faced interruptions with their child care.
With the government reopen, Head Start funding is expected to resume, but it’s unclear exactly when grantees will receive those funds.
But in Idaho, which has 13 grantees with over 80 locations across the state, those programs were able to remain open, Megan Woller, the executive director of the Idaho Head Start Association, previously told the Statesman. Head Start funding gets sent out to programs at different times of the year, and only one grantee had expected to get its money on Nov. 1. That center found another funding source to remain open, Woller said.
Boise Airport flights
The Federal Aviation Administration last week began requiring cuts in air traffic at 40 airports across the country. Although the list didn’t include the Boise Airport, Boise provides flights to 17 of those that were included, according to previous Statesman reporting.
Airlines have said air travel disruptions appear to be improving, but it could take at least a week for it to be fully restored, according to national reports. Officials are hopeful it won’t impact holiday travel.
