BOISE, Id – More people are signing up for help from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in part to a poor economy. That’s according to the Director, Richard Armstrong.
Richard Armstrong “Our food stamp caseload is at a record high. In November, the actual number of enrollees was $235-thousand. We estimate 6.3 percent growth for the current fiscal year.”
Last year, Health and Welfare averaged nine-thousand applications each month for food assistance. But Armstrong told budget lawmakers today food aid is not the only program hit hard by the economy.
Richard Armstrong “Medicaid enrollees increased over 20 percent in the past four years. If you add cash assistance and child care assistance to Medicaid and food stamps we are serving over 320-thousand Idahoans. Four years ago, we were serving 205-thousand.”
Armstrong is asking for a budget of nearly two and a half billion dollars in 2013. Most of that is for Medicaid. A large majority of the money would come from the federal government. He’s asking Idaho for $616-million dollars.
Armstrong warned lawmakers the number of people on Medicaid will go up in 2014, as some of the changes from the federal Affordable Care Act go into effect. He estimates another 100-thousand people in Idaho will be eligible to sign up. Over time, that could add 100-million dollars to the state’s tab for Medicaid.
Copyright 2012 BSPR
