Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) will introduce new legislation to close the Medicaid coverage gap in the remaining 10 states. This bill extends the premium credits to those in the coverage gap: people with incomes below the poverty line who have no other access to affordable coverage. The legislation is also co-sponsored by Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
Forty-one states including D.C. have expanded Medicaid coverage to nearly 25 million adults, including lower wage workers, older Americans, and caregivers. Republican lawmakers are blocking this lifesaving program in Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Sen. Warnock’s home state of Georgia. As a result, nearly 1.6 million people are uninsured with no options for affordable coverage.
In response, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:
“Since day one, both Senator Baldwin and Warnock have had an unwavering commitment to making quality, affordable health care a reality for every American. After years of Republican obstruction in these ten hold-out states, it is high time Congress deliver relief to the 1.6 million Americans who desperately need affordable care. States that expanded Medicaid have stronger hospitals, better economies, and healthier communities. Medicaid expansion is widely supported across the nation, even in some of the deepest red states. It’s time for MAGA lawmakers to stop playing politics and start putting the health and well-being of American families first.”