Health
No one should have to go without the medical care they need simply because they can’t afford it. Investments in Medicaid, ALL Kids, mental health care and other health services help Alabamians stay healthy and productive, and they lay the foundation for a future where all of our residents have a chance to thrive, regardless of their income or background.
Arise works to identify and eliminate the structural barriers that prevent many of our friends and neighbors across the state from accessing the health care they need. We examine how a variety of policy solutions, including Medicaid expansion, would help break down those walls and strengthen the health care infrastructure on which all Alabamians rely.
Featured Resources
Member Resources
Alabama Arise 2025 legislative priorities
More than 150 Alabama Arise member groups and more than 1,500 individual members choose our legislative priorities each year. This process ensures that Alabamians most impacted by poverty have a seat at the table. Below are the priorities that our members selected for 2025. For a PDF version of this document, click here or click [...]
Personal Stories
From a childhood in the cancer ward to a lifetime in Alabama’s coverage gap
Lary Brooks is a fighter. At just 2 1/2 years old, he was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a bone and blood cancer that nearly took his life. Lary survived thanks to the life-saving treatment he received at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. “I was a week from dying when they found [...]
Fact Sheet
What are the benefits of a universal school breakfast program in Alabama?
Alabama should do more to equip schoolchildren and teachers for success. Our state consistently ranks among the bottom five states for educational outcomes. And one essential school supply missing from several Alabama schools would immensely improve said outcomes: universal school breakfast. Below are a few of the positive effects that universal school breakfast would have [...]
Fact Sheet
Universal school breakfast helps Alabama children learn and thrive
School breakfast helps kids learn: Children who start the day with breakfast learn better. They have better classroom participation and are less likely to skip school than kids who don’t get breakfast. But tight family budgets and stressful mornings mean many children arrive at school hungry. School breakfast can help fill this gap. School, bus [...]
Fact Sheet
Expand Medicaid to save moms and babies in Alabama
Where you live shouldn’t impact whether you get health care. But many women face preventable barriers to obtaining maternal health care in Alabama. Closing Alabama’s health coverage gap through Medicaid expansion is an essential part of the solution. Alabama has experienced a steady rate of labor and delivery department closures in recent years, creating several maternity [...]
Fact Sheet
Summer EBT for 2025
A state appropriation for Summer EBT will ensure $40 in food benefits per summer month for more than 500,000 eligible Alabama children ages 5-17. 1 in 4 Alabama children are food insecure. Too many of our children don’t know where their next meal will come from. Because of systemic barriers to food access, a [...]
Fact Sheet
Close the health coverage gap for Alabama’s veterans
Many Alabama veterans face preventable barriers to obtaining health care. Closing our state’s health coverage gap through Medicaid expansion is an essential part of the solution. Approximately 10,000 Alabama veterans are uninsured. In 2022, half of Alabama veterans who were uninsured had an income below 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL), which is the [...]
Fact Sheet
Summer EBT for 2025
A $15 million appropriation for Summer EBT would reduce hunger by providing eligible Alabama children $40 per summer month for food. 1 in 4 Alabama children are food insecure. Hundreds of thousands of Alabama children don’t know where their next meal will come from. And a disproportionate amount of food insecure children come from communities [...]
Fact Sheet
It’s time to expand Medicaid and close Alabama’s coverage gap
Nearly 300,000 Alabamians with low incomes would benefit from Medicaid expansion. People in the coverage gap earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough for an affordable private health insurance plan on the Marketplace. This leaves them in the health coverage gap. The vast majority of people who would gain coverage through Medicaid [...]
Personal Stories
‘I just thought things were the same everywhere’
Medicaid coverage was a vital lifeline for Saraland resident Jolene Dybas as she recovered from a health emergency. But after losing that coverage during the Medicaid unwinding period, she has had to go without needed health care.
