Some Idaho lawmakers have a reckless scheme to take health coverage | Opinion

Six years ago, Idaho voters passed Medicaid expansion with 61% support and secured healthcare for tens of thousands of working Idahoans who were previously uninsured.

It was more popular with Idaho voters than any citizen initiative in the past 40 years.

Last month, the recently assembled “Idaho DOGE” task force recommended — by a majority vote — a total repeal of the Medicaid expansion program. During the 2026 legislative session, the Idaho Legislature will decide whether to follow the task force’s recommendation.

In their case for repeal, members of the task force intentionally ignored the facts.

They falsely claimed, repeatedly, that Medicaid expansion is too costly for Idaho to afford in the midst of a budget crisis. The truth, which is well-documented, is that Idaho’s Medicaid expansion program is saving the state money, and that repealing it would cost Idaho taxpayers at least $20 million.

There’s a simple fact that Idaho DOGE doesn’t want you to know: 90% of Medicaid expansion is funded by the federal government.

The final 10% of the cost accounts for just 1.6% of Idaho’s General Fund appropriations.

For every year that a full analysis is available, the state’s share of the cost has been completely offset by new revenue and savings generated by the program.

Here’s how it works: As federal dollars flow into the state, those dollars generate large-scale savings for behavioral health programs, prison healthcare services, drug courts, and other programs that would otherwise be funded entirely by state dollars.

Meanwhile, the flow of Medicaid expansion dollars is driving new economic activity in communities across the state. A 2025 study by University of Idaho economist Steven Peterson found that Medicaid expansion has generated 9,000 new jobs and $35 million in annual revenue from sales and income taxes.

Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy recently reported that, once savings and revenue are taken into account, repeal of Medicaid Expansion would result in a $20 million net loss to Idaho’s general fund.

Members of Idaho DOGE are well aware of these facts. Each of the reports cited above were shared with the task force.

Why, you might ask, would a task force supposedly committed to fiscal responsibility knowingly pursue such a fiscally reckless course of action?

The reality is that this task force was never motivated by fiscal responsibility.

Idaho DOGE is driven by a different agenda — the same agenda, in fact, that created our state’s budget crisis in the first place.

It’s a simple, two-step playbook: First, dole out huge tax breaks that primarily benefit corporations and the wealthy. Then, when the state runs out of money, use the budget deficit as an excuse to slash services for working families.

During the past four years, legislators gave away 4 billion in tax breaks — most of which flowed to corporations and the rich. Adding insult to injury, last year they passed a $50 million voucher program for private-school families.

And now that we face the deepest budget deficit we’ve seen in a decade, Idaho DOGE is attempting to use this manufactured crisis as an excuse to repeal Medicaid Expansion.

It appears that Idaho voters see through DOGE’s deception.

In the years since 2018, when voters enacted Medicaid expansion, the program has only grown more popular. A 2023 poll found that 73% of Idahoans, including 65% of Republicans, still support the program and do not want it repealed.

If legislators follow DOGE’s lead and repeal Medicaid expansion, they’ll be ignoring both the facts and the voters.

Luke Mayville is co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, the organization that spearheaded the successful 2018 campaign to expand Medicaid in Idaho.