The Idaho Behavioral Health Council has formally recommended that state leaders concentrate opioid settlement money on eight counties identified as facing the greatest threat from opioid use disorder, while also spotlighting the demographic groups the underlying data consistently flags as most vulnerable. The council, which draws membership from Idaho’s legislative, judicial, and executive branches, distributed […]

As Idaho voters prepare to weigh in on Proposition 1 — a citizen-led initiative to repeal the state’s strict abortion ban — a Christian advocacy group and several Republican state legislators are promoting licensing data they say disproves a peer-reviewed study finding Idaho lost 35 percent of its OB-GYNs since 2022. Medical professionals and their […]

Beginning next year, most Idahoans enrolled in Medicaid expansion will need to demonstrate they are working, in school, or caregiving to keep their coverage — and those who claim a health-based exemption may soon find themselves gathering paperwork to prove it. The state’s implementation of the “medically frail” exemption is drawing scrutiny as Idaho’s Department […]

The Trump administration has sharply narrowed the definition of “medically frail” under new Medicaid work requirements, forcing states to implement stricter eligibility standards by January 2027 that healthcare advocates and Democratic-led states say will create administrative chaos and strip coverage from vulnerable populations. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published interim guidelines on June […]