In February 2024, the Idaho Legislature debated a bill that would’ve probably repealed Medicaid expansion.

Without the program—which expanded the public assistance program to more low-income earners—Boise resident John Barnes told Idaho lawmakers last year, “I may not be here.”

Only parts of that bill eventually made it into a sweeping Medicaid cost control law that passed this year.

But with all the cuts coming to Idaho Medicaid, Barnes said he still worries he’ll lose Medicaid.

“When I do have chest pain or something, and go to the ER, and then I worry, ‘Is this gonna be the time they send me a bill that I can’t pay?’” he told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview.

In the coming weeks and years, a slew of cuts will hit Idaho Medicaid and health care: to doctor pay cuts, reforms from

See Full Page