John Barnes, 55, tells documentarians about how Medicaid saved his life — helping him get substance abuse treatment and help others who live in the same sober house. (Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)
In February, John Barnes testified before the Idaho Legislature.
He asked lawmakers to oppose a Medicaid reform bill that some said would’ve probably repealed Medicaid expansion.
“I may not be here if not for the passing of Medicaid expansion,” Barnes told the Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee.
Medicaid covers “medication I need to survive,” he told lawmakers. Many of the men who live in the sober house he lives in also use Medicaid to access medications that “literally keep them off the streets, and out of the justice system,” he said.
After wide opposition, lawmakers stopped the bill from advancing.
Amid a years-long debate among Idaho lawmakers over how to tamp Medicaid’s rising costs , Barnes and others are sharing stories of how Medicaid expansion improved — and for some, saved — lives, as part of a documentary by health advocacy groups.