edicaid expansion is an issue deeply relevant to working Alabamians, from the hundreds of thousands caught in the healthcare coverage gap to the many more who stand to gain from the potential economic impact. The Valley Labor Report will continue to provide coverage of the important fight to expand Medicaid in Alabama. Critical to that fight has been the work of Alabama Arise and the Cover Alabama coalition. We bring you their recent release on their March 21, 2023 legislative advocacy event in Montgomery.
Check out our additional coverage from The Valley Labor Report:
We Need Medicaid Expansion: Medicaid’s “stringent” income qualification limits are leaving families hopeless and sick
The workforce benefits of Medicaid expansion in Alabama
Our March 2023 interview with Debbie Smith of Cover Alabama
FROM ALABAMA ARISE NEWS RELEASE:
Advocates visit Alabama lawmakers to urge support for Medicaid expansion
Speakers share personal stories at Cover Alabama advocacy event in Montgomery
More than 80 Alabamians gathered outside the State House in Montgomery on Tuesday to urge state lawmakers to expand Medicaid to cover adults with low incomes. The Cover Alabama coalition sponsored the event as part of its advocacy day for Medicaid expansion. Alabama Arise is a founding member of Cover Alabama.
Some advocates shared stories of how Medicaid expansion would help their families and communities. Others highlighted how expansion would benefit Alabama’s economy and health care system. All sought to show the human faces of the state’s health coverage gap and the suffering it causes.
Video footage from the event is available here. Photos from the events are available here.
“I lost my job because of a chronic health condition. I’m the primary provider for my family, but I could not stay well enough to do my job,” said Jesse Odland, a Huntsville line cook. “Now, I worry my medical debt will affect how my family can thrive. The working class drives our economy, and we’re hit the hardest by the coverage gap.”
Closing the coverage gap would help nearly 300,000 Alabamians access potentially life-saving care. It also would create thousands of new jobs and invigorate the state’s economy, research shows. Medicaid expansion could create more than 20,000 new jobs and save the state almost $400 million each year for the next six years, according to a recent report by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. And in rural areas, expansion would have the added benefit of reinforcing rural hospitals.
“Alabama’s rural hospitals are in trouble. More than a dozen are at immediate risk of closing this year,” said Dr. Marsha Raulerson, who has been a pediatrician in Brewton for more than 40 years. “When a rural hospital closes, that community loses not only their access to health care but also a primary economic engine and the jobs that come with that. Medicaid expansion is a win-win for patients and providers alike.”
Rev. Carolyn Foster, the faith in community coordinator at Greater Birmingham Ministries, argued that expanding Medicaid is just the right thing to do.
“No matter our creed, we can all agree that we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves,” Foster said. “So long as we allow our neighbors to fall into the health care coverage gap, we are failing to answer that calling. It is an affront to people of faith and people of good will.”
Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid, and North Carolina likely will join that list next week. Debbie Smith, Alabama Arise’s Cover Alabama campaign director, said advocates hope this is the year Alabama will expand, too.
“Research shows Medicaid expansion is favorable on both sides of the political aisle,” Smith said. “We are hopeful Alabama lawmakers will do the smart, compassionate and fiscally responsible thing and expand Medicaid now. How can our state not afford to save money?”
Click here for video from the event. And click here for photos from the event.
Alabama Arise is a statewide, member-led nonprofit organization advancing public policies to improve the lives of Alabamians who are marginalized by poverty. Arise’s membership includes faith-based, community, nonprofit and civic groups, grassroots leaders and individuals from across Alabama.
Cover Alabama is a nonpartisan alliance of more than 120 advocacy groups, businesses, community organizations, consumer groups, health care providers and religious congregations advocating for Alabama to provide quality, affordable health coverage to its residents and implement a sustainable health care system.
For more information, contact Chris Sanders at 334-832-9060 | chris@alarise.org