Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to provide that a third party that requires prior authorization for items or services provided to a recipient of medical assistance shall accept authorization from the state.

This bill clarifies the responsibility of a third party covering a Medicaid-eligible individual to accept the state's authorization for a service or item the third party requires prior authorization for if the state plan (or a waiver) covers the service or item. This bill is required to be enacted by federal law and assures that Medicaid is always the payer of last resort for any Medicaid-eligible individual.

Adds to existing law to provide that the director of the Department of Health and Welfare shall seek a waiver to exclude candy and soda from supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits.

This legislation would require the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare to request a waiver from the federal government to be able to exclude candy and soda from SNAP eligible foods. Food stamps are currently fueling the junk food epidemic, with soda ranking as the number one commodity bought with food stamps. Taxpayers are funding a growing health crisis, including childhood obesity. Banning soda and candy from food stamps would prioritize health and nutrition while also reducing taxpayer’s out-of-control Medicaid costs. Make Idaho Healthy Again!

Amends existing law to require legislative action for certain changes to public assistance programs.

This legislation, effective July 1, 2025, modifies the eligibility criteria to stipulate any changes cannot be provided in rule, state plan, state plan amendment, agency guidance, or other documents. It also adds an emergency clause.

Amends existing law to provide for the exchange of certain information between the State Tax Commission and the Department of Health and Welfare for investigation of fraud.

This bill allows DHW to enter an MOU with the Tax Commission to share state tax information for public assistance fraud investigations. The use of tax information will allow fraud investigators to investigate and prosecute cases swiftly. Currently, fraud investigators can only issue subpoenas for banking information, which does not always provide an accurate representation of a household's total income. Further, responses to subpoenas are not always timely, and in some cases are not responded to at all. Household tax information from the Tax Commission will would drastically reduce the investigative time spent on a fraud case and allow for more efficient use of investigators’ time. The Tax Commission was given an opportunity to review this language and DHW and the Tax Commission have begun preliminary discussions on implementing this bill if enacted.