Tell Congress to Fund Medicaid Expansion NOW

The House Budget Committee is working on a budget resolution over the next couple of weeks and needs to hear from us! We need a budget line for a federal plan that sidesteps state legislatures to cover people in the healthcare coverage gap.

Under the American Rescue Plan, North Carolina can get at least $1.7 BILLION from the federal government to expand Medicaid, ON TOP of having the federal government pay 90% of the cost of expansion forever. Yet leaders in the General Assembly have still refused to accept these funds, as have legislators in 11 other non-expansion states, nearly all of them in the South.

Congressman David Price (District 4) is the only North Carolina rep on the House Budget committee, and his is an important voice on this issue. We need Rep. Price to do the right thing and make sure there’s a budget line for a federal plan that expands Medicaid.

ACTIONS

Here’s what you can do:

1. Tell our reps  in Congress we need a federal fix to expand Medicaid NOW! Write and call Madison Cawthorn (NC District 11) and Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr. Or use this easy online form from the NC Justice Center to send a message to all three.
2. Send an email to NC Rep. David Price (NC District 4), the only rep from our state currently serving on the House Budget Committee, urging him to do the right thing and make sure there’s a budget line for a federal plan to expand Medicaid. See the sample letter below, or write your own.

Learn More

See how North Carolinians are affected in this great infographic from the NC Justice Center’s Health Advocacy Project.

Read this letter from Americans for Medicaid Expansion to the President and Congress, laying out the case for a direct coverage option for low-income individuals in non-expansion states.

Sample Letter to NC Rep. David Price (District 4)

Note: You can mail a letter to David Price’s DC office (2108 Rayburn Bldg, Washington, DC 20515) or fax (202-225-2014), or you can call his DC office (202-225-1784) or email him using this contact form on his website. Be sure to identify yourself and your current NC district, and – for all of us in District 11, or anywhere outside of outside Rep. Price’s district – state why you’re contacting him even though you live outside his district.

Dear Rep. Price,

Although I’m not a resident of District 4, I am reaching out to you on an urgent matter that affects North Carolinians in ALL parts of our state, including District 11, where I live.

For over 10 years now, our state legislature has refused to accept the free federal funds available through the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid and provide access to healthcare for over half a million North Carolinians who fall through the healthcare coverage gap. As the only representative from North Carolina serving on the House Budget Committee, you have an important role to play. North Carolinians can no longer wait for our leaders in the General Assembly to do the right thing. We need a federal fix to expand healthcare coverage for the last non-expansion states in the country.

As you and other members of the House Budget Committee work on the budget for the infrastructure bill over the next few weeks, I urge you to include a federal pathway to affordable healthcare coverage that doesn’t depend on approval from our lawmakers in Raleigh.

Sincerely,

[Your complete name & address]