Woop! Woop!

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that eligible healthcare customers—including 450,000 North Carolinans—can continue to receive financial assistance in buying health coverage offered through the Affordable Care Act. This is great news!

While those North Carolinians can now breathe a sigh of relief, there are still 500,000 uninsured North Carolinians who are waiting on our state lawmakers to stop playing politics with their health coverage. Under the Affordable Care Act, our state has the ability to extend health coverage to low-income, uninsured adults who can't afford the high cost of health coverage but so far lawmakers have refused to do so. This has created a 'coverage gap' for people who make too little to afford private insurance but too much to qualify for Medicaid.

Governor McCrory specifically said that he was going to wait until after this Supreme Court decision was made before moving forward with a plan to extend health coverage to uninsured adults in our state.

Now it is time to close North Carolina's health insurance gap! Let’s keep the positive healthcare momentum going—sign our open letter to remind Governor McCrory it’s time to extend health coverage to low-income, uninsured adults:

http://action.momsrising.org/sign/lives-on-the-line/?source=blog

The Affordable Care Act was designed to help everyone be able to get health insurance. This is why the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the financial assistance to consumers and is why our lawmakers should act to extend health coverage to low-income uninsured North Carolinians. The law specifically set aside funding for our state to extend Medicaid coverage to adults who make too little to afford private insurance but too much to qualify for Medicaid. All we have to do is accept it!

It’s a great deal for the state as the Federal government would cover most of the cost AND a majority of North Carolinians support extending health coverage to uninsured adults in our state. But because our lawmakers have refused to bring our tax dollars home, it has left hundreds of thousands of adults in NC without the health insurance they need to get regular checkups and to get treatment when they get sick.

It’s time to bring our tax dollars home and extend health coverage to hard-working, uninsured adults in North Carolina! Sign our open letter to Governor McCrory and state lawmakers! http://action.momsrising.org/sign/lives-on-the-line/?source=blog

A report from Cone Health Foundation and Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust found that if lawmakers act to expand Medicaid right away, North Carolina will generate $1 billion dollars in related tax revenue and create 43,000 jobs through 2020. In addition, closing the coverage gap would save the state budget more than $300 million in that same time frame. This would give our economy a much needed boost!

It’s not just about economics, though—people’s lives are on the line! It’s estimated that over 1,000 North Carolinians will die each year as a result of not having health insurance.

Tell lawmakers to accept our Federal dollars to extend health coverage to low-income uninsured North Carolinians!

Most North Carolinians who would be Medicaid-eligible if our state were to expand the program are adults who are employed and work in retail, food preparation, hospitality, service industries, and agriculture. North Carolina’s economy relies heavily on these individuals and they deserve to have access to the preventative care they need and to be able to see a doctor when they get sick.

The more people who sign, the stronger our impact will be. Please take a moment to share this post with your friends and family in North Carolina on Facebook and Twitter: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/lives-on-the-line/?source=blog