Washington, DC — Today, U.S. Representatives and Co-Chairs of the Medicaid Expansion Caucus joined Protect Our Care for a press conference discussing the urgency for the remaining 10 non-expansion states to follow North Carolina’s lead and finish the job to extend coverage to the estimated 1.9 million Americans in the coverage gap. During the call, the speakers discussed how expansion has never been more important as states face threats of major coverage losses due to the ongoing Medicaid unwinding.
“Every day we don’t expand Medicaid in Georgia is a day we lose out on millions in federal investments to our state but more importantly thousands of Georgians who lose out on life-saving, affordable health care,” said U.S. Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA-04). “It’s really tragic that some Georgians actually lose their lives because they don’t have access to the health care system. Our legislature needs to expand Medicaid in our state. It’ll help about 650,000 Georgians access the health care system.”
“We have over 100,000 Tennesseans who are not getting Medicaid who could get it and Tennessee would receive $900 million over two years from the federal government,” said U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN-09). “This would not only be good for the health of Tennesseans but the health of poor Tennesseans who otherwise don’t get treated and for our rural hospitals, many of which have closed.”
“I’m really glad to see that we’re on a positive pathway towards expanding Medicaid in North Carolina. And now as a voice in Congress, I will continue to fight for all Americans that remain trapped by their states in the Medicaid coverage gap,” said U.S. Representative Don Davis (D-NC-01). “We must incentivize other non-expansion states to move forward and provide life-saving health care coverage to nearly 2 million Americans in need.”
“It is long past time that Republicans stop threatening cuts to Medicaid,” said Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse. “People desperately need health care. It shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It shouldn’t have been a partisan issue all these years. It’s simply just time to get it done.”