The Idaho State Capitol is reflected in the Joe R. Williams building on March 21, 2021. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)
A man in his 40s, who had severe mental illness and lived with his family in the Boise area, died recently after Idaho cut critical mental health services, according to a clinic owner who leads the local treatment team.
Providers say it marks the third death among patients who were receiving mobile, specialized treatment in less than three months since an Idaho Medicaid contractor cut the service. In the year and a half before the cut, providers say only one patient on the program died.
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Laura Scuri co-owns Access Behavioral Health Services in Boise and runs the region’s team for the cut service, called Assertive Community Treatment, or ACT. She said an official cause of death for the patient hasn’t yet been released. But she said she believed his death was preventable, saying the cut program was designed to help people address their basic needs.
“It’s not gonna stop,” Scuri told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview.
Soon after the cuts were announced, providers and the Idaho Sheriffs’ Association warned the cuts would risk public safety, and providers said the cuts would drive up other costs even more. Eastern Idaho crisis centers are seeing demand spike after the cuts, which also ended peer support services that help people navigate mental health treatment.
Budget cut fallout: After Idaho cut a critical Medicaid mental health service, two patients died
In the next few months, Scuri fears the cuts could spur a violent critical incident as people with severe mental health issues lose accessible treatment.
“I’m worried it’s gonna be a child. Some innocent kid that was in the wrong place at the wrong time is going to cross paths with someone who’s actively psychotic and get hurt,” Scuri said in an interview.
State health officials have denied the entire ACT program was cut, saying services are still available. But some providers say the services that are still available aren’t what the evidence-based program was like, because providers aren’t paid to staff mobile treatment teams.
Magellan, the contractor that runs Idaho Medicaid mental health benefits, and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare were not immediately available for comment.
About 200 people in Idaho are on the ACT program, Magellan Healthcare’s Idaho Executive Director David Welsh wrote in a December declaration in response to a federal lawsuit by patients.
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Idaho Gov. Brad Little gives a press conference after delivering his annual State of the State address on Jan. 6, 2025, in the Lincoln Auditorium in the Idaho Capitol. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)Asked about first two patient deaths, Gov. Brad Little said ‘hindsight is a great thing’
Magellan’s pay rate was reduced by the Department of Health and Welfare as part of Medicaid provider pay cuts last year, after Gov. Brad Little ordered state budget cuts.
Asked in a news conference on Tuesday whether the governor would’ve handled his cuts differently after the first two patient deaths were reported, the governor said “hindsight’s a great thing.”
Little told reporters it’s tough to anticipate the “unintended consequences.”
The governor’s budget chief, Lori Wolff, previously told the Sun that preventive services are often the first to go when the state faces a budget crunch — because they are one of few options the state has.
Rep. John Shirts, R-Weiser, talks with Rep. Ben Fuhriman, R-Shelley, on the House of Representatives floor on Jan. 14, 2026, at the State Capitol Building in Boise. (Photo by Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)
Two weeks ago, Idaho state Rep. Ben Furhiman, a Shelley Republican, said he planned to bring a bill to reinstate the program, which he estimated would cost the state $4 million annually. But his bill hasn’t been introduced yet. On Thursday, he said will be considered for introduction Monday in the House Health and Welfare Committee.
“We’re taking the next step to ensure this program is properly funded,” Fuhriman said in a text message. “… I’m grateful to the chairman for giving it the opportunity to move forward so we can work toward getting it across the finish line.”
The latest death was preventable, like the first, Idaho health providers say
The latest death was preventable, Scuri said in an interview.
The patient had been managing his chronic conditions, she said. But when the program was cut, she said providers couldn’t know the issues would get worse or that he wouldn’t keep addressing them.
“That’s what ACT is designed to do,” Scuri said, “is to intercede when an individual becomes symptomatic and doesn’t address their basic needs.”
Laura Scuri, co-owner of Access Behavioral Health Services, testifies before the Idaho Legislature’s Medicaid Review Panel in Rexburg on Dec. 15, 2025. (Photo by Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)
She said patients whose mental illness worsen from lacking treatment often don’t keep up on their basic needs.
The program is about more than just managing medication, she said; it is about building trust with patients to help them take care of themselves.
“If you don’t have that, they won’t,” Scuri said.
Instead, she said some patients will become delusional about their illness, such as believing, “‘The yellow pill is bad today. It’s given to me by the government. The government is bad.’”
“That happens a lot with our guys,” Scuri said. “And then they stop, and then they get sick, and then they go to the hospital. And we just do this over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.”
That cycle, she said, is part of why providers say the cuts drive up costs elsewhere. In December, the state’s Medicaid director told lawmakers that health officials aren’t sure the cuts will save the state money long-term.
The first two patient deaths were in eastern Idaho, providers say.
Ric Boyce, director of Mental Health Specialists, testifies before the Idaho Legislature’s Medicaid Review Panel on Dec. 15, 2025 in Rexburg. (Photo by Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)
In a federal court declaration, Ric Boyce, the owner of Chubbuck-based clinic Mental Health Specialists, wrote the first death was preventable. The patient died of complications following a minor surgical procedure — after declining follow-up medical care or sticking to a treatment plan, Boyce wrote.
After the patient died in December, Boyce said in an interview that his clinic was investigated and asked why his staff didn’t refer the patient to a higher level of care.
“The only higher level of care is hospital,” he told the Sun. “And you can’t send somebody to the hospital and expect to have them hospitalized for a fairly minor medical issue. … They have to become a danger to (themselves) or others before they can be hospitalized.”