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
Fact Sheet
Why Medicaid expansion is a must for prison reform in Alabama
Against a backdrop of human tragedy, Gov. Kay Ivey’s Study Group on Criminal Justice Policy is working toward a January deadline for its recommendations to the Legislature. The U.S. Department of Justice in April issued a sobering overview of the Alabama corrections system’s numerous shortcomings. And the Montgomery Advertiser shed further light on the situation [...]
Fact Sheet
Meet the working men and women caught in Alabama’s health coverage gap
As we celebrate Alabama’s workforce on Labor Day, here’s a fact that deserves special attention: More than 100,000 Alabamians are working without health insurance. They work in child care, construction, food services and other vital jobs. They’re the folks who keep things going. Yet they’re trapped in the health coverage gap. They can’t afford employer-based [...]
Fact Sheet
Alabama’s prison reform solution must include Medicaid expansion
Alabama’s prison crisis is about more than overcrowding and understaffing. It’s about the generational impacts of a criminal justice system warped by racism, chronic poverty, inadequate education and poor health. The solution will require both new revenue and broad policy reform. And one essential step is to extend health coverage to uninsured Alabama adults with [...]
Fact Sheet
Removing the FIT deduction would allow Alabama to untax groceries, expand Medicaid
Alabama's federal income tax (FIT) deduction provides a huge tax break for high-income individuals – but at what cost? $719 million to be exact. The FIT deduction is one big reason Alabama's tax system is upside down. For those who earn $30,000 a year, the deduction saves them about $27 on average. But for the [...]
Fact Sheet
Alabama Medicaid reforms aim for better care, lower cost
Alabama is making some big changes in the way Medicaid members get their care. Alabama Arise believes the new plans, if carried out well, will be a significant improvement over the current Medicaid system. One way to improve the chances for success is to have a strong consumer voice at the policy table. The changes [...]
Fact Sheet
Revenue options for Medicaid expansion
Alabama’s budget is an expression of our values. Medicaid expansion means healthier families, thriving communities and a stronger economy. Policymakers have a range of options for making this bold investment in a brighter future. Now is the time to choose. Remove the state deduction for federal income taxes (FIT) ► $719 million in new revenue [...]
Fact Sheet
Medicaid expansion by the numbers
± 223,000 Alabamians are caught in the coverage gap, unable to afford health insurance. Another 120,000 or more are stretching to pay for private or employer-based coverage. 13 Alabama hospitals – including 7 rural ones – have closed since 2011. 88 percent of Alabama’s rural hospitals operate in the red. If we expand Medicaid to [...]
Fact Sheet
Medicaid work requirement hurts struggling families
Alabama Medicaid is trying to take health coverage away from our state’s poorest parents struggling to make ends meet. Gov. Kay Ivey has to get federal permission to make this harmful change. Here’s why that shouldn’t happen: The work requirement creates a no-win, catch-22 situation. It targets 75,000 of the poorest Alabamians. It’s a trap: They [...]
Fact Sheet
Proposed Alabama Medicaid changes are ‘a catch-22 that forces people into the coverage gap,’ Alabama Arise tells officials
Alabama’s proposed new Medicaid work requirement waiver would be costly, counterproductive, ineffective and harmful to thousands of families who live in deep poverty, Alabama Arise wrote in official comments submitted to state Medicaid officials on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. “Threatening loss of health care in an attempt to force work efforts, without providing the supports that [...]
Letters & Testimony
Alabama Arise submits comments in opposition to Alabama’s ‘flagrantly cruel’ Medicaid work requirement proposal
Alabama’s proposed new Medicaid work requirement waiver would be costly, counterproductive, ineffective and harmful to thousands of families who live in deep poverty, Arise wrote in comments submitted to the Alabama Medicaid Agency on Thursday, March 22. Click the "Download" button to read the full comments. About 1 million Alabamians – mostly children, seniors, people [...]
