Shawn ONeal
Senior Regional Media Advocacy Manager
Idaho Cancer Advocates Again Call on Lawmakers to Protect Access to Health Care, Medicaid Expansion
With Access to Comprehensive, Affordable, Quality Care at Risk, Lawmakers Have Chance to Support Hard-working Idahoans
January 14, 2026
BOISE, Idaho – As Idahoans face soaring health care insurance costs and thousands at risk of losing life-saving coverage, volunteer advocates of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network are urging state lawmakers to use the 2026 legislative session to tackle the root causes of affordability and preserve access to Medicaid and voter-approved Medicaid expansion. Hard-working Idahoans driving the state’s economy need access to health care to maintain healthy, happy lives and have the best chance to avoid, detect and defeat cancer.
“We hear directly from Idahoans every year, and their message is clear: Medicaid expansion saves lives,” ACS CAN Idaho Government Relations Director Randy Johnson said. “Early detection is one of the most powerful tools we have against cancer and that’s just the start of the benefits of Medicaid expansion. Cutting these programs does not save money. These cuts are devastating. They drive rural hospitals closer to closure, shift costs onto Idaho taxpayers, and result in preventable illness, disease, and death.”
Voter-initiated Medicaid expansion has been in place since 2020 and has significantly reduced Idaho’s uninsured rate, assuring more than 88,000 who previously could not afford a Marketplace plan have access to insurance and health care. Despite its success, access to this coverage is threatened by unnecessary administrative barriers, including new federal work-reporting mandates that place government red tape between Idahoans and their care. If Idaho does not implement these new mandates thoughtfully, they will compound the inherent harms of work requirements and cause even more eligible people to lose Medicaid coverage.
This coverage is especially crucial to rural Idahoans and the health care systems serving them, some of which will face closure because of federal and state health care cuts. During the 2026 Idaho Legislature, ACS CAN volunteer advocates will continue opposing all efforts to repeal, cut or restrict Medicaid or Medicaid expansion and ensure the program stays fully funded and free of unnecessary barriers. Lawmakers should pursue practical solutions to keep Idahoans covered, such as asking the state to request a good-faith waiver from the federal government to delay monthly certifications required for Medicaid expansion recipients starting in January of 2027 and use the least-burdensome lookback period for work reporting or exemptions at both enrollment and eligibility re-checks. The monthly reporting mandate places onerous and needless paperwork on people already working tirelessly to make ends meet but there are steps Idaho can take to reduce these burdens to the greatest extent possible.
ACS CAN will also ask lawmakers to secure sustained funding for Idaho’s cancer screening, prevention, and tobacco control programs. These critical resources save lives and reduce long-term health care costs for Idaho taxpayers. A key priority is strengthening Idaho’s tobacco tax. A $1.50 per pack cigarette tax increase, paired with a parallel tax for all other tobacco products would reduce healthcare costs, protect kids, and save lives.
Tobacco tax increases are among the most effective tools states have to reduce smoking, prevent youth addiction, and lower smoking-related health costs, while providing a stable and reliable revenue stream compared to more volatile tax categories. Idaho-specific data from Tobacco-Free Kids underscores the urgency, with 1,800 Idahoans dying each year from smoking-related illnesses, persistently high youth e-cigarette use, and smoking-related medical treatment and lost productivity costing the state hundreds of millions annually, including significant impacts on Medicaid. Reducing youth initiation and adult tobacco use remains one of the most effective strategies to bend Idaho’s long-term cost curve.
ACS CAN encourages individuals, businesses and organizations that are interested in getting involved in the fight against cancer to visit https://www.fightcancer.org/states/idaho
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