Cut-up letters spelling out “Use your voice” (*image by Polina Kovaleva)*

Yet AGAIN, the federal court in the K.W. v. Armstrong lawsuit has ruled that Idaho Medicaid cannot keep secrets from people who use Medicaid. Idaho Medicaid wanted to ban adults with developmental disabilities and their advocates from using the SIS-A manual. The SIS-A is the “Supports Intensity Scale – Adult” assessment tool that Medicaid wanted to use to pick people’s budgets.

Last August, the court ruled that keeping the manual a secret would be unconstitutional. The court said that Medicaid’s plan to make budget decisions with the SIS while hiding the SIS manual “defies logic and is antithetical to principles of due process.” You can read that court decision here.

Idaho Medicaid did not like that decision and tried to get the court to overturn it. But this week, the court ruled that its decision will stand. You can read that new decision here.

We do not know for sure what will happen next. The court rulings may mean that Idaho Medicaid will not use the SIS-A at all. Over the past month, the K.W. lawyers have been meeting with Idaho Medicaid to discuss what will happen. That means that now is a critical time for your feedback.

The K.W. lawyers will hold three online meetings to give detailed updates and get your feedback. These meetings are just for people who get Medicaid DD services in Idaho, and their primary advocate. The meetings will not be recorded. All three meetings will cover the same update – you only need to attend one of them:

Afternoon meeting
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
1:30 pm MT / 12:30 pm PT
Register for the afternoon meeting

Evening meeting
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
6:30 pm MT / 5:30 pm PT
Register for the evening meeting

Morning meeting
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
10:00 am MT / 9:00 am PT
Register for the morning meeting

Have questions? Let us know!