An RN, Joyce Barlow places focus on Medicaid expansion in 151 race

ALBANY — As the CEO of Englewood Health Care, it’s not surprising that House District 151 challenger Joyce Barlow’s top priorities are the expansion of Medicaid and the creation of programs to preclude the closing of rural hospitals in southwest Georgia.

A Democrat and a registered nurse by trade, Barlow will have to unseat Republican Gerald Greene, who with 35 years in the House is currently the GOP’s senior member of the body.

The two will be paired in the Nov. 6 general election.

“I’m running because I want to see more done for health care, not only in District 151, but also in the state,” Barlow, a native of Ft. Pierce, Fla., said. “I want the Democratic people to have a voice to know that their concerns will be addressed. I have always been interested in politics, and I have always been involved because it controls our lives by whatever decisions they make, whether it be at the state level or the federal level. It’s going to impact most of us some way. Sometimes people don’t notice that, but it really makes a difference.”

Barlow said if elected she would join other Democrats in attempting to expand Medicaid.

“The first thing I’m concerned about is the expansion of Medicaid,” she said. “Because Medicaid expansion needs to be done. We are one of the states that didn’t accept the Medicaid expansion money. And the people in the rural counties are the ones hurting. The people I am going to be addressing are in Dougherty County and are in rural areas like Randolph and Clay counties. Very rural areas are all around Dougherty County.”

District 151 comprises all or parts of nine counties. Starting at the Muskogee County line and running south to the Seminole County line, the district covers all or parts of Calhoun, Clay, Early, Quitman, Randolph, Stewart, Terrell, Webster and Dougherty counties. The district is the largest geographically in the state, representing just more than 53,000 people.

It is also one of Georgia’s poorest house districts.

“That is is why I am in favor of Medicaid expansion,” Barlow said. “It would help people who don’t have the money to pay for regular health insurance. Because if you get sick, and you don’t have anything, that’s the first thing they ask for — be it a doctor’s office, hospital or elsewhere — ‘What form of payment are you going to make?’ Then they tell you you have to pay first. They want a card and a co-pay before you are seen.”

Expanding Medicaid, however, is going to be a hard sell in the Georgia House.

“I realize that, but I still have to go try because if you never give anything a try you never know,” Barlow said. “It’s like when I opened my business. People told me I needed to stay with the hospital because it was steady work. But time brings about change, and you’ve got to work for that change. You have to be willing to talk with the people across the aisle and ask ‘What about the rural areas?’ Everyone cannot live in a metropolitan area because it would be a nightmare.

“I used to work Clay and Quitman counties of southwest Georgia. I know the people, I know the area. I know the back roads because I’ve spent a lot of time there.”