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…is highlighted in this fine editorial in the Charlotte Observer entitled: “Expand Medicaid – It has value in NC.” To quote:

“N.C. lawmakers don’t seem inclined to reconsider their unwise decision not to expand Medicaid. But that doesn’t mean we should stop shouting loudly why they should. A new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report last week underscores the value for the Tar Heel state.

The report looked at the Affordable Care Act’s impact in 14 large U.S. cities. Charlotte was among the seven cities in states where lawmakers opted not to expand eligibility for Medicaid. Even so, the number of uninsured Charlotte residents is expected to drop by 36 percent, or 63,000, by 2016 because of ACA. That was the highest drop among cities with no Medicaid expansion. Among all states, North Carolina has the fifth-highest ACA federal online sign-up.

The report points out that had North Carolina expanded the state’s Medicaid program for low-income and disabled residents, the decrease in uninsured in Charlotte would be even greater – an estimated 57 percent. That would be an additional 36,000, bringing the number of Charlotte residents gaining insurance to 99,000 by 2016. Read More

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A new report from the experts at the N.C. Budget and Tax Center paints a sobering picture of what the new “recovered” North Carolina economy really means for average people:

“North Carolina’s recovery from the Great Recession has been marked by slow job growth and persistent challenges for working families to make ends meet. The minimal job growth has been concentrated in low-wage industries, a new report finds, which will only make North Carolina’s economic recovery that much more difficult. Read More

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Adam O'Neal

Mayor Adam O’Neal – photo credit Twitter.com

“You can’t close hospitals and let people die to prove a point.” So spoke the conservative Republican mayor of Belhaven, North Carolina, Adam O’Neal, this morning at a press conference at the state Legislative Building in Raleigh.

O’Neal’s appearance (and his linking of hands with Rev. William Barber of the North Carolina NAACP) was the highlight of a powerful event at which advocates called on Gov. McCrory and legislative leaders to reverse course and admit that their ideologically-driven decision to refuse to expand the state’s Medicaid program under the terms of the Affordable Care Act is threatening the physical health of hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians and the financial health of dozens of hospitals — especially ones located in poorer, rural communities like Mayor O’Neal’s.

O’Neal’s speech was an especially moving and courageous act by a man who claimed to disagree with Rev. Barber on most issues and who obviously placed any political ambitions he might harbor at risk by so publicly breaking with the leaders of his own party. But it was also obviously heartfelt and genuine — a fact that made it all the more powerful. Read More

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Medicaid expansionThe benefits to North Carolina and its citizenry of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act  have been explained many times, but they definitely bear repeating again today — Medicaid Expansion Lobby Day at the General Assembly (click here for details). Prof. Nancy MacLean of Duke University does the honors with the following helpful and handy list:

If North Carolina Accepts Medicaid Expansion:

  • 500,058 uninsured low-income North Carolinians would finally be protected by health insurance, many for the first time.
  • Each year, 2,840 individuals will live, who would otherwise die due to lack of health care coverage. Doctors will be able to catch their cancers and other illnesses early enough to treat them effectively, and provide treatment for other life –threatening illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Each one of the people whose lives will continue is a mother or father, daughter or son, sister or brother, friend and neighbor, so their survival will enhance many thousands of other lives and spare them the grief of loss. Read More
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Leslie Boyd

Yesterday at the Moral Monday rally on Halifax Mall behind the state Legislative Building, one speaker did an especially good job of pointing out the double standard of many “pro-life” politicians. Leslie Boyd, a person familiar to NC Policy Watch readers, explained that when she was advised to have an abortion because her unborn son had a virus, she “chose life” by opting to carry the pregnancy to term. However, when he later acquired an illness that would prove fatal without treatment, the same politicians who encouraged her to “choose life” deprived him of life by denying him the healthcare he needed. Boyd eloquently proclaimed that his blood was on their hands, and that they were, in effect, responsible for his death.

Boyd is right, of course. If politicians are going to demand that women “choose life” before a child is born, the least they can do is assure that after a child is born, s/he receives the necessary healthcare everyone deserves. Otherwise they are advocating a double standard, and at that a very strange one: the unborn life is treated as more worthy of protection than those who are already living in this world. As long as North Carolina politicians seek to prevent the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and to block Medicaid expansion while also shrinking Medicaid, those of insufficient income for necessary health expenses – as many as 2,800 per year according to some estimates – will suffer the loss of life, whether their own or the lives of loved ones.

Michael Dise is currently a seminary student at Wake Forest Divinity and a summer intern for the NC Justice Center. 

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