Governor signs bill cutting $21.8 million from disability housing; funding still exceeds 2022 levels

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) – Gov. Brad Little made the difficult decision to sign legislation impacting disabled Idahoans on Thursday – cutting the Medicaid budget by $21.8 million dollars.

The cuts impact housing programs and services for people with disabilities – reducing the rates paid to residential habilitation providers by 10 percent.

“It's been a tough year, and it's not easy for anybody in the Statehouse to make these cuts or to make these decisions," said State Sen. Julie VanOrden, R-District 30, who serves as Health and Welfare Committee Chairwoman.

The program serves disabled individuals who require various levels of care, including people with Down Syndrome or severe mental illnesses whose families can’t care for them.

Many of these individuals require intensive, 24-hour care, but the program also benefits individuals who simply require additional help to be independent.

"The money flows from the state to the providers to either the caregivers directly or to the clients, and then they pay their caregivers. I would hope somewhere along that line that if a reduction was going to be made, that it would not be to the caregivers or the clients," VanOrden said. "I would hope it would be made somewhere else, so they would not be affected by these reductions.

Idaho spends more than $176 million each year on residential habilitation.

The 10 percent cut includes last year's four percent holdback on Medicaid.

But even with the reduction, overall funding is 33 percent higher than it was four years ago, VanOrden said.

In 2022, the Legislature allocated an additional $70 million to the program, plus $22 million to provide additional services.

In passing House Bill 863, the Idaho House and Senate voted to advance the Governor’s original budget recommendations.

“I would hope that people understand that if we receive more income, I would like to be able to take those funds and use them to restore some of these reductions that are being made,” she said.

VanOrden has a record of restoring programs if funding is available.

This year, she succeeded in securing opioid settlement funds to bring back funding for the ACT mental health program that had been cut earlier in the session.

Local News 8 will follow up with next week with providers who offer housing to individuals with disabilities to learn more about how the cuts will impact those they serve.