On Monday, AARP Idaho advocates in red shirts plan to urge lawmakers at the Capitol not to tinker with a measure that will expand healthcare access for Idahoans. It’s part of a lobby day the group does each year to discuss issues that affect older folks.
"It’s a large group of concerned citizens," says Randy Simon, director of communications for AARP Idaho. "We tell them that you don’t have to be an issue expert to be an advocate. Anybody can be an advocate."
Simon says many of their volunteers come from various parts of the state, so they represent voting districts from across the political spectrum.
Also on their agenda are pushes for caregiver support and retirement savings plans, but front and center Monday will be Medicaid expansion.
"We would like to see the will of the voters done, so we will be working diligently this session to make sure that it’s expanded with the lightest touch of government that there is," he says.
More than 60 percent of Idahoans voted in favor of Medicaid expansion in November. Simon says the vast majority of the AARP Idaho volunteers at the Capitol Monday voted in Idaho’s midterm election.
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