North Carolina citizens and politicians from both ends of the political spectrum gathered June 3 outside the Legislative Building to lobby for Medicaid expansion in order to provide for people in the coverage gap.
The decision to not accept federal funds to expand Medicaid left more than 500,000 people without healthcare, according to the lobbyists’ information pamphlet.
“There are some things that are not left or right or Democratic or Republican or conservative or liberal,” said Rev. William Barber, President of the North Carolina NAACP. “They’re just right. They’re the moral thing to do.”
“They are forgetting it’s about life and death,” said Belhaven Mayor, Adam O’Neal. “It’s on a plane above politics.”
O’Neal said he was a Republican, but no party was right all the time, and though he agreed with and appreciated some concerns regarding the expansion, he would not allow any hospitals to close because of political ideologies.
“You can’t let hospitals close and people die to make a point,” O’Neal said.
Barber cited Arkansas as an example of a conservative state that has expanded Medicaid 100 percent, saying that something similar could be done in North Carolina.
House minority leader Larry Hall said Medicaid expansion could create 25,000 jobs in areas where he said it is most important as a time when the state is struggling to create jobs.
Hall said without Medicaid expansion, North Carolina could also lose healthcare professionals to neighboring states and that reforming existing measures would not be sufficient.
“If we are going to reform this Medicaid program, we need to reform and expand,” Hall said.
North Carolina Sen. Angela Bryant said it is important to address the bad image associated with Medicaid as something only beneficial to lower-class people.
“We have to attack this notion of Medicaid as the enemy,” Bryant said. “Medicaid is being used as an excuse for everything that is happening in our state. There’s no attention to the fact that we have these tax giveaways.”
Alison Kiser, director of public affairs at Planned Parenthood, said that as a provider of vital services, Planned Parenthood supports the expansion of Medicaid.
Planned Parenthood served as a location for people looking for help to enroll in services through the Affordable Care Act. Kiser said people at Planned Parenthood witnessed firsthand the number of people who fell into the coverage gap.
“It’s a sad situation when you have to make a choice,” Kiser said. “Do I put gas in my car and food on the table or pay medical bills?”
In North Carolina, Planned Parenthood sees about 25,000 people every year, and about 70 percent of these people are uninsured, according to Kiser.
There is currently a bill in the House of Representatives as well as one in the senate that, if passed, would expand Medicaid, according to Kiser.
