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.

Fact Sheet

Expand Medicaid and close Alabama’s health coverage gap

For years, Gov. Kay Ivey and legislators have said cost is the barrier to covering Alabamians with low incomes through Medicaid. However, thanks to new federal incentives for Medicaid expansion, any concerns about that barrier are gone. Now more than ever before, we have the opportunity to ensure no Alabamian has to choose between going [...]
Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
March 14, 2023
Author
Debbie Smith
Personal Stories

See The Gap: ‘Possibilities that we just can’t afford’

Kayla is a talented, young hairstylist who has built up a successful clientele in one of Birmingham’s hippest salons. She’s been a stylist for 12 years and said she loves the independence it gives her. She sees dozens of clients every week and takes great pride in her work.

“It’s a great industry, but it’s not taken as seriously as it needs to be,” Kayla said. “Especially relative to the number of people that come through our doors to get their hair done.

Kayla grew up in a small town in Walker County but started her career in an “Over the Mountain” suburb south of Birmingham. The salon served a wealthier clientele, but it didn’t offer many benefits to stylists. Among the benefits she didn’t have: employer-provided health insurance.

Issues
Medicaid Expansion, Health
Date
March 1, 2023
Author
Whit Sides
Personal Stories

See the Gap: ‘A bigger problem in our industry’

Barbers and stylists in Alabama often work for themselves, and that comes with a cost. One Birmingham barber in the state's health coverage gap said he decided against getting health insurance because premiums were close to $1,000 monthly. In his own words: "Me personally? I don't go to the doctor. I think it's part of [...]
Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
February 16, 2023
Author
Whit Sides
Fact Sheet

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 [...]
Issues
Economic Opportunity, Medicaid Expansion, Health
Date
February 6, 2023
Author
Mike Nicholson
Personal Stories

See the Gap: ‘You’ve got to be able to deliver when folks need you to’

Trent Thomas, 42, has been doing hair for a while now. And the first thing he’ll tell you is how much of a good thing he’s got going.  “I love it here for a million reasons – some superficial – but it really is such a great place to be,” he said, showing off his boss’s massive plant collection visible from the street outside. Trent was able to keep his job and his paycheck at Orbit Salon, in Birmingham’s Five Points South neighborhood, even when the world slowed down in 2020.

Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
January 26, 2023
Author
Whit Sides
Personal Stories

See the Gap: ‘Someone’s got to do something for working folks’

When I first met Katie Franklin, she was juggling requests from three guests at the same time. I’ve been visiting Nail World II, right outside Birmingham, for nearly 20 years, but this visit was different. Someone new was greeting me at the door. Katie is a presence who is not easily forgotten. I learned she was the new salon manager. Honestly, it felt like she was right at home. She made greeting 25 to 30 customers an hour look easy. Her maternal aura and gregarious nature shone bright through all the hustle and bustle.

Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
December 22, 2022
Author
Whit Sides
Personal Stories

See the Gap: How Medicaid expansion would improve life for Alabama’s hairstylists and barbers

Throughout our lives, there are many milestones. We go to school dances. We graduate, and we get married. But we don’t get to those moments alone. [caption id="attachment_7589" align="aligncenter" width="341"] Mark Hyde, founder of Forecast Salon in Homewood, performs a color service on a client. (Photo by Whit Sides)[/caption] When we look back at the [...]
Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
December 15, 2022
Author
Whit Sides
Personal Stories

Postpartum Medicaid extension brings a glimmer of hope for new mothers in Alabama

This story originally appeared on AL.com. On Mother’s Day in 2014, I found out I was pregnant. For me, the existential dread set in just as deeply as the morning sickness. Motherhood and its crushing weight had been drilled into me my entire life. I told myself it was too hard, that I just wasn’t [...]
Issues
Budgets, Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
May 9, 2022
Author
Whit Sides
Fact Sheet

Funding surge is a path for Alabama to untax groceries, expand Medicaid

Alabama’s broken tax system usually starves our state of money to fund education, public health and other basic responsibilities adequately. But 2022 may be different. Record tax revenues and a surge of federal recovery dollars could allow lawmakers to address longstanding state needs and inequities – if they have the political courage: Tax revenues for [...]
Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
December 21, 2021
Author
Carol Gundlach
Personal Stories

When Alabama’s coverage gap hit home for my family

This story originally appeared on AL.com. Our borders have become irregular as COVID-19 closes in on almost every part of our lives. The pandemic has made all of us realize how the shapes of our families are becoming irreparably different. This summer, the shape of my own life changed. Cathy Parker was one of my [...]
Issues
Health, Coronavirus, Medicaid Expansion
Date
October 27, 2021
Author
Whit Sides
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