BOISE, Idaho — Given what's happened in other states, there could be a legal battle looming over work-reporting requirements in Idaho's approach to Medicaid expansion.
Just last week, a federal district judge blocked adding work requirements to Medicaid expansion in Arkansas and Kentucky.
According to the judge, this policy was ruled unlawful because it is arbitrary to the Medicaid program itself, which is to promote very broad healthcare coverage.
A work requirement, which could potentially terminate an individual’s coverage, is contrary to that idea, according to the judge.
However, Idaho's former Attorney General Dave Leroy says this legal battle concerning Kentucky and Arkansas, is far from over.
Leroy says the decision could likely be appealed in a circuit court and possibly even the U.S. Supreme Court.
Additionally, the ruling doesn't necessarily have any legal binding on Idaho.
"What Idaho has done here is not particularly unique and not really out of the norm. Other states are taking this approach too, so to assume that it's automatically unlawful here is a very broad assumption and probably not correct," Leroy said.
According to the National Health Law Program, a legal advocacy group for low-income individuals, 18,000 people in Arkansas and an estimated 100,000 people in Kentucky would have lost coverage if a judge didn't block the work requirements in those states.