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Kristine A is a 2004 BYU-Idaho graduate and an accountant who was preparing for grad school to be a Mormon historian until 3 kids under 2 disrupted her plans. She is a Wheat and Tares blogger on hiatus, reluctantly lives in Rexburg, and is extremely online.

Why were the LDS Church, DMBA, and BYU-Idaho in the New York Times over the weekend? The drama began, as most things do up in this neck of the woods, in the Rexburg community Facebook group. On November 11, the mother of a student posted that her son had been told Idaho Medicaid no longer counted as adequate insurance for the mandatory insurance coverage rule and that he’d be charged for the DMBA student health plan. Most people didn’t believe the claim from the student’s mother, but by the end of the day a student had posted a copy of the waiver her husband had picked up at the school that confirmed the rumor. When the husband picked up the form the employees at the health center told him the decision was from SLC and would be applying to all CES schools. Other students throughout the day contacted the Student Health Center (SHC) and were told the decision was from the Church Board of Education.

My resulting tweet of the facts I’d seen reported in that thread went viral enough that a BYU Health Center administrator was in my mentions disputing the report. Before back tracking what I’d shared, since I was receiving different info from different spaces, I waited to hear official word. Within 24 hours of my original tweet the BYU account confirmed they were not involved. At this point reporters DM’d me and I coordinated where to find information and who they could talk to.

BYU-Idaho still wasn’t talking, but the growing discontent on social media was starting to get out of hand. Finally on the morning of the 13th, BYUI sent out an email to Medicaid students on the waiver—even ones who had filed for and been approved for a waiver mere weeks ago—to let them know that “Medicaid is no longer a viable substitute to waive the Student Health Plan.” They provided no justification for their decision.

To be clear, a month before Christmas these students were informed they now had to pay $536/student/semester $2130/family/semester (year round 3-semester coverage required) by January (or find another commercial plan that was ACA compliant and valid in Rexburg http://www.byui.edu/health-center/student-health-plan) if they wanted to stay enrolled. Medicaid already provides full coverage so the additional policy they are being forced to pay is unnecessary. Numbers aren’t being released as to how many people this concerns but BYU-Idaho has 20,600 on campus students. Single students comprise 75% of that number I assume are covered on their parents’ plans up until age 26. Married students can be covered as well but maternity services aren’t available, so the remaining ~5000 married students would be especially affected if trying to start and raise families while going to school. The Medicaid Expansion voter initiative approved by Idaho voters goes into effect January 2020. Madison County, population approximately 30,000, has the highest poverty rate in the state at 42%, in part due to the LDS student population. 6,420 people are on Medicaid in Madison County and the state estimated 2,900 may sign up in the area, though not all of those are students.

BYU-Idaho’s lack of explanation was fueling speculation, as were their own employees at the Student Health Center. Students were reporting being told, among other things, that the school didn’t want to overwhelm the local medical community with new enrollees, that accepting Idaho Medicaid but not Medicaid from other states would result in discrimination, or that the school had “moral concerns” both about what Medicaid covered and about what it would force the local medical providers to do. One student met with an admin at the SHC and was given a lecture about how Medicaid expansion didn’t just effect students, they needed to stop being so selfish and realize that it would affect the local community and property taxes and rent would be going up. They were also telling students not to rely what they hear on social media because everyone was spreading false reports to make them look bad. Hmmm.

Over that first weekend, on Saturday the 16th, students from the FB protest group that had been created a few days earlier met on campus to organize. In the comments of the Facebook live video a student employee at KBYI reported they’d been banned from covering the story. An alum who is actively involved in the group confirmed it with a friend who worked there the next day. On Monday the 18th a tweet of mine about silencing student media went viral. More reporters filled my inbox as a result, and I once again helped coordinate sources for them. The resulting Post Register and Religion News Service articles from the situation include anonymous sources from the BYU-Idaho Scroll confirming the gag order (and includes leaked audio of a staff meeting! Leakers, take a bow!).

On Wednesday the 20th, the school finally broke the silence with a justification:

“Due to the healthcare needs of the tens of thousands of students enrolled annually on the campus of BYU-Idaho, it would be impractical for the local medical community and infrastructure to support them with only Medicaid coverage. However, many private insurance plans can cover the insurance waiver. Students are encouraged to find the insurance coverage that works best for them. The BYU-Idaho Student Health Plan will continue to be an option. Help in finding acceptable plans can be found by contacting the Student Health Center.”

Since the news broke this had been one of the rumored reasons and Clay Prince, a local family practice owner had already debunked this as a reason in the community group on the 13th, “Speaking as both a community physician and a local hospital administrator, I can say that no one from BYU-I has asked the local medical community whether Medicaid expansion might “overwhelm” local resources. I can also say that, if they did ask, the answer would be ‘No.’” News reporters would continue to interview the medical community, and all have given the same message.

These poor (literally and figuratively!) students have been given the definition of the runaround. They’ve met with Student Health Center admin and been given no answers or options. When students try to discuss how they have evidence debunking the school’s justification, they were told the school did speak with medical community members but admin refuses to say who. The highest-level administrator most have been able to meet with is Brett Cook, manager of auxiliary services (the profit producing arm of administration, no logical reason why student physical and mental health services are organized this way). Bro. Cook when with one student, when pressed, said he was in the meeting where the decision had been made before retracting the statement minutes later. He also told the student all of the press coverage was a steaming pile of garbage and the school had no intention of reversing the policy. I mean, if you’re just leaking a dozen reasons from different sources with only one implausible official reason – yeah, it’s going to be a garbage fire for you. The one line they are giving students now is that there is an emergency needs-based grant they can go into financial aid to apply for. They’ll only be approved after they ask their family, friends, and ecclesiastical leaders for help. They have to prove they can’t work more hours at a job and show how they’ll change their actions to not need it again in the future.

One student went through the goose chase all on his own before he even knew about the public FB protest group. He joined and shared his experience of applying for this emergency grant that the school is eager to solve the problem with:

The third time I went to the financial aid office they finally let me meet with a counselor, who told me that I didn’t qualify for aid, but if I listed the assets I’d be willing to sell they would be willing to raise the cap on my loans. I responded “Let me make sure I understand. If I prove to you that I have sufficiently abased myself to be worthy of help, you will allow me to further into debt to pay for superfluous insurance?” and her response was “Yes, that’s correct. I’m sorry if that is frustrating to you.” It’s embarrassing to ask for help in the first place. It’s embarrassing to my parents that I have to detail their financial struggles as well. It’s frustrating to have to ask my bishop to help me pay for health insurance I don’t want or need. Also, the formal requirements to prove I’m worthy to be helped is frustrating enough, but there is usually an informal expectation that I tell my whole medical history and financial woes to everyone I talk to before they will pass me along to the person I actually need to talk to. I’ve been outright accused of lying about how poor I am twice, and had comments like “You sure dress well for someone on government assistance” a few times. Not to mention “That’s what you get for relying on socialism” and “Welcome to the real world.” Just to be clear, it’s not university officials saying things like that. Those are the responses I get from student employees while I’m looking for who to talk to.

In addition, there have been multiple families reporting one or more spouses will now have to drop out of school, many of their stories were covered in the Salt Lake Tribune and New York Times.

I cannot overstate how outraged I am about this. First BYU-Idaho gives no reason and then give an obviously bad reason means that the real reason is much worse than what they are publicly acknowledging–or else they’d come clean and lessen the furor. I don’t believe it comes down to all one reason, but in the spirit of internet speculation here is the best list of justification I can come up with:

The first thing everyone jumps to is saying this is a “cash grab.” That’s not necessarily how I would describe if they do have concerns of solvency of their DMBA student plan. I’m not sure how accurate this concern could be since the state estimated less than 3,000 new enrollees for the county, and only a portion of that is students. The NYT has a pretty good explainer of how the BYUs have become the last holdouts under ACA of rejecting real insurance for self-funded group pools, thus giving them freedom to not have to conform to ACA requirements.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that administration has long wanted to get all their students off public health plans. This could be for ideological reasons; thinking it’s creeping socialism or to get students “off the dole.” Administration could have seen the expansion as a perfect time to try to make it happen.

I have an anonymous source who has heard from a fairly high-level employee that the decision comes from Salt Lake and BYU-Idaho is a test market to see how it goes. I have no reason to doubt this report, especially as it was the first story out of the student health center before they realized this would become a “thing.” If it is untrue it means that their own high-level employees are either ignorant or engaged in misinformation and deflection.

Students were told “moral concerns” were a motivating factor. On campus health care providers have already been telling students for years that DMBA can’t offer contraception or they’d be forced by the government to cover abortion (this isn’t true, according to healthcare.gov contraception required would cap out at emergency contraception, i.e. Plan B, which does not end pregnancies and can only prevent them). In addition, I’ve heard a student say they were told Medicaid would force local doctors to perform services against their conscience alluding to abortion, which a local told them is not true. I wonder if they are worried a transgender person would seek out services under Medicaid and this has something to do with their worried about religious freedom / LGBTQ rights.

The right-wing republicans in the Idaho legislature have a motivation for keeping as many people as possible outraged over Medicaid expansion. They still are hoping to overturn it, and our former Area Authority, C. Scott Grow, is now a legislator who has proposed limiting the use of voter initiatives in the legislature. Idaho republicans in committee suggested making counties bear cost, and while most moderates–including our own state senator Brent Hill–think it would be unnecessary, the rumor has been spreading locally that everyone’s property taxes are definitely going up because of this. The community discussions quickly devolve into name calling of entitled whiny kids, Ezra Taft Benson quotes, taxation is theft, etc. It is possible someone with political motivations could have gotten to BYUI President’s Council and convinced them it was their responsibility to minimize as much tax burden as possible. One student who had not coordinated with protestors did 40 hours of research into Medicaid and went to the executive offices to discuss the issue. They were allowed to meet with a VP who told them the state expected 30k enrollees and already were on pace for 90k. This is easily debunked and false: the state expected around 90k and on the date they’d met approx. 30k had enrolled so far.

I have been incredibly impressed with these BYU-Idaho students navigating a complicated intersection of religion, politics, and healthcare – and being the ones harmed the most by events beyond their control. They’ve repeatedly expressed their love for BYUI and respect for administration, and that they’re disagreeing with policy and not doctrine. They continually encourage positive communication and have even suggested fasting for their leaders.

In conclusion, a recap:

The school enacted a policy that harmed a vulnerable population

They didn’t address it, but it leaked on its own accord, created outrage, and went viral

Officials refused to confirm or deny reports until they felt their hand was forced

When finally addressing it, they gave a reason that is implausible but appeases the uncaring masses

They see the resulting firestorm as extremists and “the world” ganging up on them, which further retrenches their position

The only way a reversal of policy could happen at this point is pressure from a source they have to listen to (CES, accreditation body, etc.)

One thing is sure, for a community that prides itself on always staying positive and grateful — there are active members who love the church and school who have remained silent about things they’ve disagreed with happening at BYU-Idaho by the current administration for a long time. This issue has broken a lot of their silence, as evidenced by how this one Facebook post has gone viral

Timeline

November 2018 Idaho Votes to Expand Medicaid. 46% of Madison County voters and 61% of state voters support the expansion

Summer 2019 the Idaho Legislative session end with no final plan how to pay for expansion past the first six months and adding an additional 5 waivers to the program, including work requirements and family planning restrictions. Republican lawmakers suggest making counties bear the cost proportionally. https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/politics/idaho-brad-little-medicaid-expansion-counties/277-b2113006-0168-4104-bdf3-234ec5f5b61f

11/4 Rexburg Standard Journal reports the county will have to pay expansion costs https://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/news/how-much-will-medicaid-expansion-cost-madison-county/article_efb3353a-28f6-53ef-bbc6-fbd566ce485d.html

11/11 Students report on facebook their waiver applications for Medicaid were rejected by the school, tweet goes viral

11/12 Daily Universe reports BYU isn’t involved https://universe.byu.edu/2019/11/12/twitter-forum-sparks-concern-about-medicaid-meeting-byu-health-insurance-requirement/

11/13 BYU-Idaho sends out email informing effected students they’ve been charged for DMBA

BYU-Idaho Scroll https://byuiscroll.org/students-confused-after-university-stops-accepting-medicaid-as-waiver-for-student-health-plan/

East Idaho News https://www.eastidahonews.com/2019/11/this-is-outrageous-and-unacceptable-byu-idaho-wont-accept-medicaid-anymore-and-refuses-to-say-why/

Boise State Public Radio https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/byu-idaho-won-t-accept-medicaid-anymore-enrollment-expansion-begins#stream/0

Change.org Petition https://www.change.org/p/brigham-young-university-idaho-keep-medicaid-an-acceptable-form-of-insurance-in-byu-idaho-and-byu-hawaii?recruiter=1018646949&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition

11/14 Students form a facebook protest group “Accept Medicaid BYU-Idaho” and local Senator says taxes won’t be raised in a KBYI interview https://www.facebook.com/groups/acceptmedicaidbyui/

11/15

11/16 Students in “Accept Medicaid BYU-Idaho” FB group meet on campus to organize. In the comments of the live feed a KBYI student employee reports they had been banned from covering the story. The next day an alum confirms w a friend who works there and reports in the FB group.

11/17 Idaho Politics Weekly https://idahopoliticsweekly.com/politics/2967-byu-idaho-s-strange-stance-on-students-medicaid

11/18 Tweet goes viral the school has suppressed student media

11/20 BYU-Idaho releases an official statement giving the justification as not to overwhelm community

BYU-Idaho Scroll https://byuiscroll.org/byu-idaho-releases-new-statement-on-medicaid/

East Idaho News https://www.eastidahonews.com/2019/11/byu-idaho-explains-medicaid-rejection-medical-community-skeptical/

Local News 8 https://localnews8.com/news/rexburg/2019/11/20/byu-idaho-stands-by-their-decision-to-reject-medicaid/

KTVB https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/health/byu-idaho-medicaid-students-petition-controversy/277-0c119d44-3d10-42b4-b76f-4f8d22cf5f1e

Idaho Ed News https://www.idahoednews.org/voices/byu-idahos-decision-to-reject-medicaid-is-morally-wrong-and-hurts-idaho-families/

11/21

Post Register https://www.postregister.com/news/education/local-doctors-question-byu-idaho-medicaid-claims/article_39a44e74-7203-5bd4-8060-52c1a0fc5551.html

Religion News Service https://religionnews.com/2019/11/22/student-reporters-at-byu-idaho-allegedly-pressured-not-to-publish-negative-stories/

Idaho Press https://www.idahopress.com/eyeonboise/local-doctors-question-byu-idaho-medicaid-claims-link-to-full/article_d08e84dc-5f80-55aa-a3ae-a931f79c0eda.html

11/22

SL Trib https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2019/11/22/byu-idaho-no-longer/

Fox 13 SLC https://fox13now.com/2019/11/22/students-withdraw-from-byu-idaho-due-to-universitys-decision-to-not-accept-medicaid/

Post Register https://www.postregister.com/opinion/editorials/how-to-tarnish-your-brand-in-easy-steps/article_17ff3d34-9f6d-5bc5-bb09-7670f301c2aa.amp.html?__twitter_impression=true

11/23

Idaho Statesman https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/education/article237694039.html

11/24