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In the world of social programs, Medicaid is one of the hardest to understand. It’s something of a catch-all program for low-income people, covering broad and divergent needs. Included are healthy children and adults with eligible dependent children, people with disabilities or special health needs, and the elderly. Eligibility is income-based and it varies according the category of qualification for the program.During the state’s 2011 fiscal year, more than three quarters of the funding allocated to the Department of Health and Welfare’s budget went to Medicaid. The program received about $1.55 billion in federal and state funding, with 74 percent of those dollars coming from the federal government.Enrollment in Idaho’s Medicaid program has grown substantially in recent years. The average monthly Medicaid enrollment was fairly stable between 2006 and 2008. It grew by about 3.5 percent. But in the last three years, the program’s enrollment has grown nearly 21 percent. Ballooning from about 185,000 in 2008 to 228,897 in 2012.

Trump Proposal Could Change How Many People Get SNAP, Medicaid And Other Benefits

U.S. Census Bureau
Poverty by state in the U.S.

According to a new analysis, proposed changes to the federal poverty line could mean big changes for low income people in the Mountain West.

The Trump Administration wants to change how the poverty line is calculated every year for inflation.

"That sounds technical,  says Aviva Aron-Dine with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research group. "But what it would mean is it would lower the poverty line relative to what it would otherwise be."

Aron-Dine says the reason that’s important is because the poverty line determines who can get all kinds of government assistance: free lunch for students, food stamps, or SNAP benefits, Medicaid. 

"I think people are sometimes under the mistaken impression that people in the Mountain West don’t rely on federal help to get health care, or to put food on the table," she says.

The proposal could have an especially large effect on some rural communities in our region where poverty rates are particularly high. 

The comment period for the proposal ends this week. 

Find reporter Amanda Peacher on Twitter @amandapeacher.

Copyright 2019 Boise State Public Radio

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho,  KUNR in Nevada, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

Amanda Peacher works for the Mountain West News Bureau out of Boise State Public Radio. She's an Idaho native who returned home after a decade of living and reporting in Oregon. She's an award-winning reporter with a background in community engagement and investigative journalism.

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