OPINION: Idaho Kids Covered report

December brings on the holidays, such a wonderful time of year. The kids come home. They cook and play music for us. Gifts are exchanged. A tree is harvested. It’s placed in the living room and decorated. The dog freaks out. We laugh together, and the feelings all around are good beyond description.

But then a troubling email appears in my inbox reminding me how much work we (Democrats and Republicans) have to do in Idaho to ensure this holiday feeling of safety and peace for the most vulnerable among us. 

The email was from Idaho Kids Covered and it contained their 2023 report titled Idaho Maternal and Infant Health.

IKC is a statewide network of health care advocates and stakeholders working to assure affordable access to healthcare.

IKC monitors maternal morbidity and mortality outcomes, a job the Legislature did before terminating its Maternal Mortality Review Committee in 2021.

IKC’s report states that Idaho’s infant and maternal death rates are rising dramatically. For example, between 2019 and 2021, the infant mortality rate rose 18%, and the maternal death rate rose 121%. 

That’s eye-popping.

In “almost every single health data metric included in their last report Idaho has continued in the wrong direction.”

One shocking statistic is the fact that Idaho ranks last among states in providing health coverage for low income pregnant and postpartum women.

If you know or love anyone who relies on Medicaid in Idaho, you know that qualifying and remaining qualified is a struggle. 

That’s because our state imposes stricter than average income eligibility requirements and time limits on Medicaid recipients.

Idaho disallows anyone from Medicaid who earns more than $34,307 a year. That is $2,800/month before taxes for a family of three. Think about that for a minute.

From one month to the next, as a young woman’s job situation or housing situation changes, they could be without health care.

Moreover, Idaho Medicaid cuts women off after 60 days postpartum. This is exceptionally bad, because half of all pregnancy related deaths occur between 45 and 365 days after birth. 

Given that 46 other states continue coverage for a full year, Idaho’s early cutoff is particularly shameful.

These bottom of the barrel statistics should not surprise us. 

When the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, it freed states like Idaho to restrict women’s freedom. 

Restrictions imposed by Idaho’s leaders limit women’s right to choose reproductive health care options, and force them further into poverty. 

Restrictions imposed by Idaho’s leaders unnecessarily put women of childbearing age at great risk of morbidity and mortality.

What is worse, these restrictions imposed by Idaho’s leaders extend poverty to the next generation of Idahoans because they affect the children of young mothers.

We now have the numbers to prove it.

So, as we enter the holiday season, let us keep those folks in mind. 

Contribute to efforts like The Press’ “Christmas for All.” Broadcast to your friends and family that you are a safe individual to discuss maternal mortality with. Reach out in whatever way you can to mothers who are struggling.

What’s more, getting involved politically has the power to change lives permanently, not just around the holiday season.

Throughout the holidays and into the New Year, let us vow to elect better leaders — people who are truly pro-life and not simply pro-fetus. 

That’s how we build a more perfect union.

• • •

Evan Koch is chairman of the Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee.