Arise’s Pres Harris invites you to our Legislative Day on April 11 in Montgomery. Legislative Day is an annual opportunity for Arise supporters to meet their lawmakers and make the case for policy changes to improve life for every Alabamian. We expect this year’s advocacy to focus on expanding Medicaid, untaxing groceries and funding public transportation.
Category: Blog
PARCA presentation on Medicaid expansion in Brewton
Medicaid expansion would save lives, create jobs and strengthen the health care system across Alabama. Ryan Hankins, executive director of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA), gave a presentation on Medicaid expansion’s benefits at a public event that Alabama Arise co-hosted on Feb. 27, 2023, at DW McMillan Memorial Hospital in Brewton.
Arise legislative update: March 13, 2023
Arise’s Carol Gundlach discusses our thoughts on how Alabama legislators plan to allocate the rest of the state’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money. Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session on ARPA funding shortly after lawmakers returned Tuesday to begin the 2023 regular session.
Arise legislative update: March 6, 2023
Before the Alabama Legislature returns this week, Arise’s Akiesha Anderson welcomes everyone with an update on an upcoming special session on federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and an overview of Arise’s member-chosen policy priorities for 2023.
Fresh opportunities to push for a better Alabama
The Alabama Legislature will welcome 37 new lawmakers to its halls when its 2023 regular session begins March 7. Alabama Arise sees this as an opportunity to educate new legislators and identify new allies on issues of importance to our members. We urge folks to join us in calling for change, including at Arise Legislative Day on April 11.
Eliminate the state grocery tax
In early February, 11% of Alabama households said they sometimes or often didn’t have enough food to eat. And those hunger challenges are even more severe in communities of color. More than 23% of Black Alabamians and 13.6% of Hispanic Alabamians said they sometimes or often didn’t have enough food.
Untaxing groceries would help families across Alabama keep food on the table. As we have for more than two decades, Arise once again will support bills this year to remove the state’s 4% sales tax on groceries. We also will support replacing the grocery tax revenue by limiting or ending a tax loophole for the wealthiest households. This legislation by Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, and Rep. Penni McClammy, D-Montgomery, would empower Alabama to untax groceries while protecting funding for public schools.
Expand Medicaid to close the health coverage gap
For nearly a decade, Alabama has been outside looking in on a good deal. While hundreds of thousands of Alabamians continue to struggle without health insurance, state leaders have failed to expand Medicaid. Alabama is one of just 11 states that has yet to expand Medicaid. And that inaction has left more than 220,000 Alabamians in a health coverage gap.
Fifteen rural hospitals in Alabama are at imminent risk of closing this year if state leaders don’t act soon to protect health care access. Gov. Kay Ivey should act swiftly to expand Medicaid herself, but the Legislature’s support also will be vital. Arise will keep working to educate lawmakers and the public on the economic, budgetary and humanitarian benefits of Medicaid expansion.
Take bold steps to reform our criminal justice system
Legislators have an opportunity and an obligation to make strides in solving the many problems within Alabama’s criminal justice system. This issue has added urgency as Alabama faces a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit alleging unconstitutional prison conditions.
Many avenues for progress exist. Arise will urge lawmakers to end the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for debt-based reasons. We will advocate for reform of the state “three-strikes” law, known as the Habitual Felony Offender Act. And we will support a bill to require the jury to be unanimous before imposing the death penalty.
Address housing and transportation needs
State House insiders expect the Legislature to go into a special session this spring to decide how to use remaining federal funds under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). From the start, Arise has taken the position that Alabama should use some of its ARPA funds to jump-start public transportation and help thousands find an affordable place to call home.
During the probable special session, we will continue to uplift the need for these investments in the people of Alabama. Learn more at alarise.org/arpatoolkit.
Budget priorities for the people
Two weeks before the Alabama Legislature’s 2023 regular session, lawmakers, lobbyists and advocates packed into the State House in late February for the annual joint legislative budget hearings. One might call it the Super Bowl for budget nerds.
After years of scarcity, both Alabama budgets are starting out with a revenue surplus. There’s $351 million in “excess” revenue for the General Fund, and $2.7 billion for the Education Trust Fund. That’s not even counting the remaining $1.1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds still awaiting allocation.
What we heard at this year’s budget hearings was not surprising. Public services like education, health care, mental health and supportive services need more resources after years of underinvestment. State agencies are struggling with worker shortages and the consequences of underfunding – and understaffing – critical programs. It’s no surprise that lawmakers heard a long, detailed list of opportunities to meet these needs. Most agency heads were clear that new funding can’t fix all of the problems – but it’s a start.
Some lawmakers have floated the idea that this one-time surplus is a sign we need a tax rebate. If that proposal materializes, Arise will be front and center advocating for funds to go directly to low- and moderate-income households bearing the brunt of higher costs. But Arise’s proposal, which comes directly from listening to our members, is a longer-term solution to our upside-down tax code. Our bill to untax groceries would help families keep food on the table while also protecting funding for public schools. It’s a solution that goes beyond just one year to create more foundational and sustainable change.
One concern you may have heard is that nobody has enough workers. Too many Alabamians are still disconnected from the workforce due to missing critical infrastructure investments in child care, public transportation, health care and affordable housing. This year, we’ll be pushing for investments in these supports to help people get and keep work, and to build the healthy and educated workforce Alabama needs.
Our 2023 policy proposals provide that roadmap for change. Expand Medicaid to ensure nobody has to die for lack of preventive care or live in poverty because they have a chronic health condition. Invest in infrastructure to support workers, including child care, housing, public transportation and education. Stop funding public services with punitive fines and fees, and start ensuring the wealthiest Alabamians pay their fair share.
We look forward to seeing you all at our Legislative Day this April. If we continue to stand and work together, we will make significant progress for Alabama.
A membership base that looks like Alabama
At Alabama Arise, people are our power. As a member, you are part of a network that drives our shared vision of a state where all people have resources to reach their potential. Collectively, you vote on our policy priorities, stay informed through our Daily News Digest and legislative updates, and advocate for fair public policies.
Because members like you are important to our mission, we work to diversify and expand our membership. We want to be reflective of Alabama and representative of people living paycheck to paycheck.
We have set long-term goals to recruit more members of color, members under age 30, and members with low incomes. And we’ve been making progress. In 2022, we grew our BIPOC membership to 17% and our membership of young adults to 3%. Through our gift membership program, we grew our membership of people with low incomes to 23%.
This data only reflects members who completed our survey. For Arise to be successful, it is critical that we understand more about you and your values. If you haven’t already, will you complete our survey? It can be found by visiting this link.
No matter your identity or background, completing this survey will help us understand the change you want to see in Alabama.
How Alabama can protect health coverage during the Medicaid ‘unwinding’ period
In 2020, we watched as the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world. Many of us searched for toilet paper, stocked up on groceries and spent a lot of quality time in our homes as we sheltered in place. But the world did not change only in our daily lives. This public health emergency (PHE) also led Medicaid officials to take additional steps to ensure people could afford to get medical care when they needed it.
As the PHE’s end approaches, though, tens of thousands of Alabamians will start paying more for critical medical care – or simply be unable to afford it – unless our state lawmakers take action. About 61,000 Alabamians are expected to lose Medicaid coverage by June 2024 due to this change, according to a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute.
These coverage losses and higher health care costs would come during a pandemic that is still ongoing. And they would leave many Alabamians with no realistic option for affordable coverage because our state still has not expanded Medicaid to cover adults with low incomes.
Medicaid expansion is the single best step Alabama could take to preserve health coverage and reduce costs for people who cannot afford a private plan and otherwise would be uninsured. In the meantime, state officials should be proactive in communicating with enrollees and facilitating transitions to Marketplace coverage where possible.
Continuous coverage eligibility kept many Alabamians insured
When federal officials declared the official public health emergency (PHE) in 2020, they activated measures to ensure that millions of Americans maintained access to health coverage. Medicaid, the health insurance program funded by federal and state governments and administered by states, was essential to these efforts.
Medicaid received additional federal funding to keep current and new enrollees eligible until the PHE’s end. Under this maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement, traditional eligibility criteria were relaxed.
The relaxed criteria led to continuous coverage eligibility. That meant Medicaid enrollees would not lose eligibility unless they requested in writing to be removed, moved out of state or died. Continuous coverage eligibility also meant changes in income or family size no longer caused removal from Medicaid during the PHE.
The MOE requirement increased the Alabama Medicaid rolls by approximately 50%. The additional federal funding, through an increased Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), was necessary to help ensure everyone had access to health care services. But now that the MOE has been separated from the PHE, so too is continuous coverage eligibility. Alabama Medicaid will begin reviewing people for eligibility again starting April 1, 2023.
What is Medicaid unwinding, and how might it affect you?
The end of continuous coverage eligibility means states may return to traditional eligibility rules to determine continued Medicaid coverage. This return to normal rules is called “unwinding.” Alabama Medicaid will begin the unwinding process on April 1.
On that date, Alabama Medicaid will resume its traditional process for verification of eligibility. Alabama Medicaid officials say they will take one year to complete the unwinding process.
Current Medicaid enrollees will receive a mailing to their home addresses from Alabama Medicaid discussing these changes. Current enrollees should ensure their most current and up-to-date information is on file by visiting the recipient portal here.
Take action to maintain coverage
The stakes of unwinding are high. Approximately 61,000 Alabamians may lose their Medicaid coverage during the unwinding period. This could result in a 16% increase in the number of uninsured Alabamians.
The Alabama Unwinding Task Force, which Alabama Arise chairs, is working with Alabama Medicaid to support outreach and communication efforts. This task force is ensuring that support is available for current eligible Medicaid enrollees to maintain their coverage. It also is working to ensure that people who no longer meet Alabama Medicaid’s eligibility criteria know their available options for continued coverage. To get involved with the Unwinding Task Force, email Arise’s Jennifer Harris at jennifer@alarise.org.
Individuals who remain eligible for Medicaid could be at risk of losing coverage during unwinding due to administrative barriers. To ensure they maintain coverage, eligible enrollees first should verify their current contact information. Next, they can elect to receive text messages from Medicaid with vital information by signing up here. And finally, enrollees should respond promptly to Alabama Medicaid’s requests for information to determine eligibility.
If an enrollee is no longer eligible for coverage through Alabama Medicaid, they should contact Enroll Alabama to discuss health insurance options that may be available to them on the Health Insurance Marketplace. They also can dial 211 to connect with an Enroll Alabama navigator who can assist in finding coverage.
Ultimately, state lawmakers should step up to ensure every Alabamian can afford the health care they need to thrive. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have invested in their people’s health and well-being by expanding Medicaid. Alabama can and should do the same.
End of emergency SNAP allotments will increase hunger in Alabama
For many of us, the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted nearly all of normal life. Businesses closed, either temporarily or permanently. People lost jobs and income. Children were not attending school in person. And millions of Americans were suddenly facing an unexpected problem: hunger.
Temporary increases to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits helped ease that suffering for families across Alabama and nationwide. But those benefits will expire at the end of February, and that means hunger is likely to get worse again. As the end of the official federal pandemic emergency declaration approaches, Alabama families receiving SNAP benefits are facing a benefit decrease that will cut their food assistance significantly.
State and local officials can’t stop the expiration of these temporary SNAP benefits. But they can and should act in other ways to help Alabama families deal with higher food costs. School districts should expand access to free school meals. The state should fund a program that makes fruits and vegetables more readily available for SNAP participants. And legislators should untax groceries to make it easier for every Alabamian to keep food on the table.
The pandemic put a spotlight on hunger
By mid-2020, 12% of Alabama families said they sometimes or often didn’t have enough food to eat, according to the Census Bureau. And those hunger challenges were more severe in communities of color early in the pandemic. Nearly 19% of Hispanic Alabamians and 21% of Black Alabamians said they didn’t have enough food. Enrollment for SNAP food assistance rose to record levels, but that wasn’t enough to solve the sudden and severe hunger crisis.
In response, Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved emergency food assistance benefits for both child nutrition programs and SNAP. One of the most important improvements was SNAP emergency allotments.
This policy raised SNAP benefits for eligible participants to the maximum allowed as long as state and federal emergency declarations existed. In 2021, emergency allotments were revised to ensure all SNAP households received at least an additional $95 a month in emergency food assistance.
Those increases are about to expire, though. Congress passed a budget in December that will end SNAP emergency benefits in February 2023.
What happens now
The Alabama Department of Human Resources has begun sending letters to SNAP participants telling them the extra benefits will stop after Feb. 28. Nearly 400,000 Alabama households will see average cuts to their SNAP benefits of around $170 a month.
Particularly hard hit will be older adults and people with disabilities who live alone. Before the pandemic, SNAP benefits for these households were often minimal and could be as low as $16 per month. Emergency allotments boosted these folks’ benefits to the maximum of $281 per month for an individual. But with these increases ending, all of these participants will now see their food budgets decline, possibly to as little as the current minimum of $23 per month.
The loss of SNAP emergency allotments almost certainly will increase hunger, both in Alabama and nationwide. But individual participants have a few options to help reduce the financial pain:
- SNAP benefits don’t have to be spent in the month in which they are received. Emergency SNAP allotments will roll over on Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards as long as the card is used at least once a month. This will allow participants to stretch their emergency dollars as far as possible.
- Older adults or people with disabilities are eligible to deduct medical costs, including transportation to the doctor or pharmacy, before calculating SNAP benefits. Updating medical costs may result in more assistance than people are receiving.
- All households participating in SNAP can deduct the cost of housing and dependent care. Updating housing costs and the cost of child care or care for adults with disabilities could increase SNAP benefits.
- Some grocery stores and farmers markets offer extra fruits and vegetables for SNAP participants. Find out where you can get these Double Up Food Bucks.
What policymakers can do to help
Hunger is a systemic problem that requires systemic solutions. Federal, state and local officials all have roles to play in helping to reduce hunger in Alabama and the nation. Below are a few of the many policy options available.
Untax groceries
Alabama is one of only three states with no tax break on groceries. Removing the state sales tax from food would allow everyone to afford an extra two weeks’ worth of groceries. Lawmakers will introduce legislation to end the state grocery tax during the 2023 regular session, and Arise will support these bills. Join our email list for updates on these bills and alerts on how you can help end the state grocery tax.
Expand free school meals
Many local schools and districts provide free school meals for all their students. Universal free meals improve students’ health and education. They also reduce the financial burden on families struggling to make ends meet.
Eligible school districts that have not adopted the Community Eligibility Provision should work to do so. And state policymakers should remove administrative barriers for schools seeking to expand free school and summer meal programs.
Provide state funding for Double Up Food Bucks
The Double Up Food Bucks program offers extra fruit and vegetables for SNAP participants. This program promotes better health for SNAP participants and more money for Alabama’s farmers. But the absence of state dollars limits the number of stores where these extra benefits are available. Arise encourages the Legislature to provide state funding for Double Up Food Bucks in the 2024 budget year.
Strengthen SNAP in the Farm Bill
Congress must reauthorize the Farm Bill, which includes SNAP, next year. Many advocates are calling for Congress to make the emergency allotment amounts permanent, either in the Farm Bill or through other legislation. Other groups are encouraging Congress to increase all SNAP benefits to a level that better reflects the real cost of food. Sign up for Arise’s email list for action alerts and updates as we get closer to the Farm Bill reauthorization.
The workforce benefits of Medicaid expansion in Alabama
For nearly a decade, Alabama has been outside looking in on a good deal. While hundreds of thousands of Alabamians continue to struggle without health insurance, state leaders have failed to expand Medicaid. A few loud voices have politicized an issue that never should have been political. And our state has paid the price in lost dollars, lost jobs and lost lives.
Strong evidence suggests that having reliable access to health care encourages folks to work and keeps workers healthy. That’s one reason 40 states and the District of Columbia have recognized the importance of Medicaid expansion. They have chosen to ensure their residents can afford necessary medical care. They have prioritized a healthy populace and a stronger workforce over partisan politics.
Alabama is one of 10 states that has yet to expand Medicaid. And that inaction has left more than 220,000 Alabamians in a health coverage gap. A family of three must make less than $4,475 a year ‒ just 18% of the federal poverty level ‒ for the parents to qualify for Alabama Medicaid. But unless that family makes at least $24,860 a year, they will not qualify for subsidies to buy a private plan on the marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act.
Medicaid expansion would end that injustice and close that large coverage gap for adults with low incomes. It is the single best solution available for lawmakers to strengthen Alabama’s ailing health care system. And it is one of the best solutions to help cure many of our state’s economic and workforce woes.
Medicaid expansion would help Alabamians stay in the workforce
Some state officials have expressed concerns about Alabama’s labor force participation rate, which is lower than in many neighboring states. Fortunately, Medicaid expansion is a proven solution to help people join and stay in the workforce. States that have expanded Medicaid have seen a greater increase in labor force participation among people with incomes below 138% of the poverty line than states that have not expanded. These are the very people Alabama would help by closing the coverage gap.
As lawmakers grapple with how to increase workforce participation, it’s worth considering how many Alabamians have had to leave their jobs due to ailments that access to adequate health care could help prevent or solve. One in three adults in Alabama have a disability, according to 2022 CDC data, including nearly two out of every five veterans. Here, too, Medicaid expansion would help. People with disabilities are more likely to be employed in states that have expanded Medicaid than in states that haven’t.
The personal and economic harms of being uninsured are all too real. For many folks, going without health coverage means going without treatment for manageable illnesses and injuries. Those conditions often turn into long-term problems that prevent them from living healthy lives or returning to work. For example, imagine being an uninsured person with diabetes, a condition affecting nearly one in seven Alabamians. While severe, diabetes is detectable and treatable with regular care. However, if untreated, it can cause disability or long-term and permanent damage like foot amputation or vision loss.
That person is now living a more difficult life, and returning to work is now more difficult, if not impossible. These are the kinds of situations that uninsured Alabamians face every day. And expanding Medicaid coverage could prevent this type of needless suffering.
Health care policy is workforce policy
As Alabama works hard to attract industries and new workers, adequate health coverage is essential infrastructure. Why would a family move to Alabama (instead of elsewhere) for employment opportunities when our state refuses to invest in workers’ health like so many other states do? And how long will businesses keep relocating to Alabama if our workforce isn’t healthy enough to fill vacant jobs? They could just as easily go to Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Virginia or West Virginia instead.
These mostly conservative Southern states all recognized the importance of a healthy workforce and chose to expand Medicaid. That’s because it is impossible to separate health care policy from workforce policy. In fact, health care policy is workforce policy.
Medicaid expansion would help working Alabamians stay healthier and more productive. Expansion also likely would boost labor force participation in Alabama, as it has in other states. Arguments to the contrary lack strong evidence and rely on false stereotypes about low-wage workers.
Many of the Alabamians who stand to benefit most from Medicaid expansion are working folks caught in the coverage gap. Having access to health insurance, regardless of the source, doesn’t keep people from working. But you know what does? Having an unhealthy workforce with folks who struggle to afford health care and are forced to work when they’re sick. Or worse: being pushed out of the workforce entirely due to ailments that worsen or go unaddressed because people can’t afford treatment for them.
Medicaid expansion would keep a wide range of workers healthier
Alabamians work hard every day to provide for themselves and their families. But hundreds of thousands of them aren’t paid enough to afford health coverage. Fast food workers, cashiers, carpenters and hotel desk clerks are just a few examples of the people who work hard at low-paying but essential jobs that often don’t provide health insurance. They are among the Alabamians who would benefit most from expanding Medicaid.
The false belief that expanding health coverage would somehow disincentivize work is insulting to Alabamians who work every day to provide for their families but don’t receive health insurance through their employers. Improving health care access is workforce development, and having health insurance makes working possible.
Likewise, the unfounded notion that many people would drop out of the workforce after gaining health coverage is not grounded in reality. In fact, it is fundamentally rooted in outdated, false stereotypes about people with low incomes. And it takes an absurdly reductive view of the economic realities of everyday life.
Health insurance helps people get health care, but it doesn’t pay for other needs like food, clothing or housing. Indeed, many Alabamians who want a job can’t enter the workforce ‒ or have to leave it ‒ because they can’t afford the health care they need to stay healthy enough to work.
Other states have shown Medicaid expansion is an economic boost
For 12 years, Alabama has failed to accept generous federal incentives to expand Medicaid to cover adults with low incomes. In that time, our lawmakers have watched as other fiscally conservative states (including Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana and Utah) expanded Medicaid and remained budgetarily sound. For a decade, expansion states have enjoyed budget savings, revenue gains and overall economic growth after expansion.
National research has shown no significant increases in spending from state funds as a result of Medicaid expansion. These positive effects occurred in expansion states even as Medicaid enrollment growth initially exceeded projections in many states.
Examples abound. Studies in Louisiana and Montana showed that expansion pumped large amounts of federal money into those states’ economies and produced significant state budget savings. In Kentucky, Medicaid expansion infused $1.16 billion into the state’s health care system and overall economy in the first year of expansion. Similarly, after Medicaid expansion, Louisiana also showed increases in overall state and local tax receipts.
Every year that Alabama has refused to expand Medicaid, Alabamians’ federal tax dollars have helped foot the bill for Medicaid expansion in other states. More than 220,000 Alabamians remain caught in a health coverage gap that expansion would close. Another 120,000 who would benefit from expansion continue to stretch to pay for coverage they can’t truly afford. All the while, our tax dollars are being used to fund expansion elsewhere.
Medicaid expansion would make economic sense for Alabama
Expansion opponents sometimes acknowledge the financial benefits of expanding Medicaid. But they often underplay the magnitude of these potential gains. Medicaid expansion could save Alabama nearly $400 million a year over the next six years, a report by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) found.
Those savings ‒ from the federal government covering expenses that Alabama now pays ‒ would be more than enough to cover the state cost for expansion, according to PARCA. Medicaid expansion also would generate nearly $2 billion of annual economic growth for Alabama during those six years, PARCA projected.
The benefits wouldn’t stop there. Medicaid expansion also would support more than 20,000 new jobs a year on average, PARCA projected. It would extend health coverage to more than 220,000 folks who don’t have it. And most importantly, it would save lives.
Expanding Medicaid would save the state money, boost economic growth and create jobs. For many newly insured Alabamians, Medicaid coverage would help them stay healthy enough to keep working. For others, it would provide the medical security they need to join or rejoin the workforce.
Alabama can’t afford not to expand Medicaid
Alabamians with low incomes pay twice the share of income in state and local taxes that the wealthiest households pay. Adding to that injustice, Alabama’s overall tax system raises much less money for vital public services than most other states. In 2019, only about 38% of our state revenue came from state taxes ‒ one of the lowest percentages in the nation. Meanwhile, Alabama gets almost as much of its revenue (nearly 37%) from federal funds.
Federal funds are already a significant source of state revenue in Alabama and have been for decades. That money has helped us meet vital needs like educating our children, maintaining our roads and keeping our water clean.
Medicaid expansion would meet another vital need for our state: saving and improving lives. When it comes to expansion, Alabama would be getting a fantastic deal: a 9-to-1 federal match of state funds. That’s nearly 20 percentage points higher than the matching rate Alabama usually gets for other Medicaid services. And as already mentioned, Medicaid expansion could save Alabama enough money on other services to cover most or all of the state cost.
Why not take the 90% the federal government is offering to fund Medicaid expansion in exchange for a 10% state match? Why not invest in a healthier future for Alabama?
Alabamians across the political spectrum agree: It’s time to expand Medicaid
While some have tried to make Medicaid expansion into a partisan issue, it simply isn’t. Several other Southern states, and conservative states elsewhere in the country, already have expanded Medicaid. Some even did so by bypassing their state legislatures through ballot measures (an option we lack in Alabama). This isn’t a partisan issue, though many in our state want to make it one.
To argue that we shouldn’t help our neighbors see a doctor based on the false premise that it might encourage them not to work is deeply troubling. Is that the state we want to be: one that pits the health of its people against cynical political posturing? That’s not what Arise wants, and it’s not what the vast majority of Alabamians want either.
Alabama is one of only 10 states that have not yet accepted the generous federal incentives to expand Medicaid. Most people across our state want that to change. More than seven in 10 Alabamians (71.5%) support Medicaid expansion, an Arise poll found last year. That includes nearly two-thirds of Republican voters.
Alabama needs to do the right thing by prioritizing the health of our people and our workforce over the political gamesmanship that so often dictates state decision-making. It’s time to ensure health coverage for all of our neighbors who can’t afford it.
It’s the only decision that makes sense, and it’s a choice that would help make this the state our people deserve. Let’s put the people of Alabama first and expand Medicaid.
This post has been updated since publication to reflect North Carolina’s expansion of Medicaid in March 2023.