Without Idaho Medicaid expansion, ‘I may not be here.’ Documentary to share stories

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He asked lawmakers to oppose a Medicaid reform bill that some said would’ve probably repealed Medicaid expansion.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.

What is Idaho Medicaid expansion?

In 2018, 60% of Idaho voters approved a ballot initiative to expand Medicaid coverage to a broader range of low-income earners. Idaho’s expansion took effect in 2020, raising the maximum income for Medicaid qualification from 100% of the federal poverty limit to 138%, which is currently $2,970 a month for a family of three, or around $35,600 a year.

Idaho Medicaid expansion covers about 94,000 people, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare spokesperson AJ McWhorter told the Idaho Capital Sun.

Voter-approved expansion followed years of stalled legislative efforts to address a health insurance assistance gap in Idaho, dubbed the “Medicaid gap.” People in the gap made too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to get subsidies on Idaho’s insurance exchange, Your Health Idaho.

Ten states haven’t expanded Medicaid since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2012, according to KFF, a health policy research group.

Idaho Medicaid expansion documentary to debut in September, groups hope

The documentary is in partnership with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and Idaho Supports Medicaid, a network of health care providers, community organizations and advocates.

Medicaid expansion has saved lives, letting people get back to work after medical issues and be involved “in what they love to do,” American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network grassroots manager Erin Riley told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview.

“We really want to make sure that our legislators, our lawmakers, know this. That they are hearing the stories, that they’re seeing the cases,” she said. “And that they understand when they’re making changes or thinking about making changes, that they really can think about people and Idahoans, as opposed to just words on a page.”

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Documentarians visited Pocatello, Boise and Coeur d’Alene for interviews — as part of a goal to highlight stories from across the largely rural state, Riley said.

She said the groups hope to publish the documentary by the end of September, but said the schedule is tentative. Once released, they plan to organize screenings in Boise and beyond, she said.

John Barnes told documentarians about how he turned his life around

Barnes, 55, works part-time at Home Depot and lives in a sober house where he serves in leadership. He is pursuing an associate degree in studio art at the College of Western Idaho, where he made the president’s list with a 4.0 grade point average for two semesters.

“I want to be a productive citizen, and I want to be a part of what’s going on in Boise and the world,” he told documentarians in an interview Tuesday. “I spent way too much time trying not to be that way. And I just really want to give it back. And I know that doing the things I’m doing now are going to lead me down that path.”

Barnes told documentarians he was a “lifelong addict.” He said he started using drugs before he was a teenager, and served over a decade in prison on drug charges.

Without his Medicaid expansion insurance policy, he told documentarians — echoing what he told lawmakers — “I would probably have been dead a long time ago.”

Barnes has lived in a sober house for two years, receiving substance abuse treatment covered by Medicaid.

The house, Just for Today Sober Living Inc., prides itself on “having the most structure” in the Treasure Valley, Barnes told documentarians, adding that drug use is not tolerated.

There’s meditation sessions most mornings. His brother sometimes visits the house’s Thursday Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Barnes said, which is open to all.

Most of the sober house residents are on Medicaid, he said.

“It helps us to help the next guy. That’s the biggest thing,” Barnes told documentarians.

Testifying in front of the Idaho Legislature

Testifying to lawmakers was a “little bit” scary and intimidating, Barnes said. But, he told documentarians, “I felt like it needed to be said.”

Too many people don’t get treatment, he said. “They’re just getting thrown in jail, and now they’re getting thrown out of jail with nothing to do.”

After Barnes’ documentary interview, Ayla Birch, outreach specialist for Idaho Voices for Children, told the Sun she remembered something Barnes told her at the legislative hearing.

“‘It’s really hard to hear what they think of people like me,’” Birch recalled him saying.

Barnes remembers the debate — and feeling the impression that some thought “we’re all out to … be a burden on society, you know? Like we’re all lazy.”

”I’m not that way,” Barnes told the Sun.

“I’m just trying to use the resources that I have for what they’re for, and realize them to my fullest extent, so I can move on with my life,” he said.

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