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Idaho Legislature – VOTE YES on H0828 - Merit-based health care (Posted: 03/09/26)
Link: legislature.idaho.gov/s…
See bill link above for current status and committee assignment
See Idaho Insider for links where you can send group emails based on current status and committee assignment: gemstatechronicle.com/l…
Summary (ai assisted)
Grok analysis link: grok.com/share/c2hhcmQt…
H0828 (Merit-Based Health Care Act) prohibits discriminatory hiring and DEI practices among Medicaid-participating health care providers, ensuring decisions are based on merit, with enforcement via penalties and compliance requirements.
Legislative Findings and Intent
Medicaid participation is voluntary and subject to state conditions.
Merit-based employment promotes trust and quality care.
Non-job-related practices undermine integrity and fund use.
Intent includes:
Ensuring Medicaid-funded decisions are based on merit and competency.
Prohibiting use of funds for ideological or discriminatory practices.
Preserving federal civil rights and Medicaid compliance.
NOTE: Does not authorize federal-prohibited discrimination or interfere with patient medical decisions.
Definitions
Discriminatory hiring: Preference or disadvantage in employment/contracting based on race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, except as federally required.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI): Policies involving race/sex stereotyping, scapegoating, or concepts such as inherent superiority, fundamental racism/sexism, inherent oppression, discrimination based on race/sex, moral determination by race/sex, responsibility for past actions, psychological distress from race/sex, meritocracy as oppressive, or compelled belief in sex/gender change.
Health care provider: Any voluntary Medicaid participant or recipient via state-contracted networks.
Prohibited DEI conduct: Policies/practices including DEI in decisions, race/sex preferences/quotas, mandatory bias training assigning outcomes by characteristics, or required DEI endorsements.
Public-facing communication: Public materials such as marketing, websites, statements, training, signage, or social media.
Prohibited Acts Health care providers shall not:
Engage in discriminatory hiring or prohibited DEI conduct.
Adopt internal policies/training constituting prohibited DEI.
Use state funds for public-facing communications promoting prohibited DEI.
Exceptions:
Federal civil rights compliance.
Demographic data for care/reporting/public health.
Patient-specific medical discussions on risks.
Non-ideological training for competency/licensure/accreditation/federal compliance.
Federally required/encouraged workforce training, quality initiatives, or disparity programs.
Medicaid Contractual Compliance Compliance is a material condition of Medicaid agreements for funded activities. Department of Health and Welfare (“department”) ensures managed care contracts require network compliance, consistent with federal requirements.
Enforcement and Penalties Attorney General investigates violations upon complaint. Department provides notice and corrective opportunity before penalties. Penalties:
Providers with 50+ employees: $10,000 first; $50,000 second; $100,000 third/subsequent.
Providers with <50 employees: $5,000 first; $25,000 second; $50,000 third/subsequent.
Limited Private Right of Action Health professionals may sue for retaliation from refusing prohibited DEI, seeking reinstatement, injunctive relief, damages, and fees.
Savings Clause and Federal Preemption Does not restrict federally required/encouraged conduct. Preempted provisions are severed; remainder effective.
Reason for Recommendation to VOTE YES on H0828
It’s high time to banish DEI and meritless hiring and retention from our vocabularies and actions. President Trump said it well in his executive order on restoring equality of opportunity and meritocracy:
A bedrock principle of the United States is that all citizens are treated equally under the law. This principle guarantees equality of opportunity, not equal outcomes. It promises that people are treated as individuals, not components of a particular race or group. It encourages meritocracy and a colorblind society, not race- or sex-based favoritism. Adherence to this principle is essential to creating opportunity, encouraging achievement, and sustaining the American Dream...
We appreciate that the Idaho legislature finally is recognizing merit as the sole arbiter of who serves us. So thank you for this bill.
Citizen rant:
While the authors of H0828 were careful not to trample federal laws, we wish this legislation didn’t need “except as federally required” clauses.
More importantly, we wish Idaho would stop taking federal money for its state programs. Federal programs are bankrupting the nation and the state. Federal programs always come with strings attached, cost the state money if/when federal programs are cut back or stopped, and create dependency among those receiving benefits.
We need to find another way! Before Medicaid was a glimmer in the federal eye, churches, communities, families, and pro bono assistance from independent medical providers filled the gaps for those who could not afford medical care, and illegal immigrants weren’t a big part of the mandated mix. Now, we just have a big expensive mess that creates a dependent (and overall less healthy) nation and state.
Idaho needs general legislation that banishes DEI and supports “merit-only” state hiring and actions. So far, we’ve been whittling away at DEI in education and now Medicaid. But these policies must exist in all things Idaho to protect our equal rights. Our founders inherently knew that “equal rights” are not the same as “equal outcomes.” That individuals should choose their own outcomes based on their own abilities and hard work. And that DEI or special treatment never should be used to level the playing field.
Only relatively recently did the United States paradigm change from “Do not discriminate” to the unconstitutional “favor and promote one group over another.”
Grok offered a good timeline of how DEI evolved from earlier non-discrimination policies: grok.com/share/c2hhcmQt…
“The US paradigm shifted toward affirmative action in the 1960s to address discrimination, evolving into DEI frameworks by the 1980s-1990s for broader inclusion.”
That rant over, please vote YES on this much-needed bill.
Related
RESTORING EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND MERITOCRACY. Executive Orders (04/23/25): whitehouse.gov/presiden…
US Constitution Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1: constitution.congress.g…
Idaho Constitution (especially Article I, Section 1): archive.sos.idaho.gov/d…
Idaho Legislature 2026 Bills to Support or Oppose: tinyurl.com/yc2jpkeh
