Idaho acted quickly to remove people from Medicaid after special COVID-19 protections expired in April, including health coverage for tens of thousands of children.

In a process called Medicaid unwinding, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare determined more than 120,000 people were no longer eligible for the program.

Hillarie Hagen, health policy associate at Idaho Voices for Children, said many people were disenrolled from Medicaid for procedural reasons and the renewal process was unclear.

"The confusion around the renewal process often results in families not really finding out that their child has lost Medicaid until they show up at the doctor or when they go to the pharmacy to pick up a potentially lifesaving prescription or an asthma inhaler," Hagen explained.

During the first four months of Medicaid unwinding in Idaho, more than 20,000 children lost health coverage, according to Georgetown University data.

Hagen argued consistent health coverage is essential for healthy development, especially for young children.

"Even a very short lapse in health coverage for children can result in delayed care, unaddressed medical conditions like asthma," Hagen pointed out. "All it takes is one broken arm to put a family with low income in a financial crisis."

Hagen stressed policymakers should evaluate why so many children were disenrolled from Medicaid during this process.

"To see where the opportunities are to make improvements, to help make things easy to navigate for families so that children don't lose coverage unnecessarily if they're still eligible, or have gaps in coverage," Hagen urged.

Open enrollment through Your Health Idaho for health coverage in 2024 is open through Dec. 15.


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New legislation in Olympia aims to ease the burden of child-care costs for Washington families by allowing businesses to help their employees pay for it.

Under House Bill 1564, businesses could reduce the amount they spend on business and occupation taxes by the amount they pay for child-care assistance to workers.

State Rep. Joshua Penner, R-Orting, who authored the bill, said prices for child care in the state can exceed the cost of college tuition.

"That's just a really tough position that we put our workers in," he said, "that they have to decide whether or not to be underemployed or forgo opportunities in order to get good child care."

Nearly 40% of Washington parents have reported quitting a job or being fired because of child-care challenges, costing families almost $7 billion annually in lost income. The bill was just introduced and is in the House Finance Committee.

Penner added that if a business didn't use the full tax benefit in one year, the bill would allow it to apply the remaining amount to the following year. He said he isn't worried about the potential loss of tax revenue for Washington state.

"I think nothing is more efficient than those 'B&O' taxes being directly applied to child care for the workers within that business," he said.

Washington ranks seventh, just behind Oregon, for the least affordable infant care in the country, with an average year of full-time care topping $20,000. Penner said many factors, including low pay for providers and the high cost of running a child-care business, have driven up price tags for families. He said the bill has bipartisan support.


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A majority of California children are failing to meet educational standards, according to this year's County Scorecard on Children's Well-Being.

Researchers from the nonprofit Children Now have published the scorecard every other year since 2008, so policymakers from all 58 counties can track progress over time.

Kelly Hardy, senior managing director of health and research for Children Now, said academic scores have begun to rebound to pre-pandemic levels, which are still much too low.

"Only 43% of third graders met standards in reading, only 33% of fifth graders met standards in science, and only 32% of eighth graders met standards in math," Hardy reported.

The percentages are even worse for Black and Latino students. For example, among eighth graders, only 20% of Latinos and 14% of Black students meet standards in math. Kids in Marin, Orange and San Francisco counties fared better, while children in the rural north counties face greater challenges in education and health.

Youth in foster care are falling behind even further, with 21% meeting standards in English, 11% in science and 7% in math. Hardy hopes lawmakers keep the issues in mind when crafting the next state budget.

"It really makes no sense for a relatively high-tax state like California to be so far behind other states in outcomes for education," Hardy contended. "We need the state to provide more funding."

The report does reveal some bright spots. More than 97% of kids in California now have health insurance, and more low-income families with kids are accessing CalFresh food support.

Free school lunch and breakfast may soon be the law in the Commonwealth.

House Bill 1958 would require local school boards to participate in federal school lunch and breakfast programs through the Department of Agriculture. The programs make school lunches and breakfasts available to any student who asks for one.

Some schools are already taking part in the programs but the legislation would make it a requirement statewide.

Emily Hardy, deputy director of the Center for Healthy Communities at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said there is a need for expanded free school meals across the state.

"Almost 400,000 kids would qualify financially currently to get school breakfast that don't," Hardy reported. "We do know there are a lot of children in Virginia who are food insecure, but aren't currently getting the service in their school."

Nearly 1.3 million Virginia children are currently enrolled in public schools across the Commonwealth.

Research from No Kid Hungry suggested free school breakfast also cuts down on rates of chronic absenteeism, where students miss 10% or more of the academic year.

Hardy noted sometimes, a free school meal could come with a stigma for students. A blanket policy, she added, can also help other parents, not just those in a tough financial position.

"Reducing stigma, making it so that all children have access to this, it both helps parents who could afford to pay for meals but maybe don't have the time to make them, or are struggling with other things," Hardy emphasized. "It also helps those children who are low-income, who then don't have to face the stigma of being the only kid getting the free meal."

Other states have already taken steps to provide blanket school meals to students, including in Minnesota, New Mexico and Maine.