Lawmakers, Activists Demand Medicaid Expansion
The debate continues over the expansion of Medicaid in Alabama. Today, democratic lawmakers and activists met at the state house to demand the governor expand medicaid, calling it a life or death issue.
Tuesday the Senate passed a resolution opposing the expansion of Medicaid. Now, representatives from various outreach organizations are firing back.
“If she would’ve got a simple mammogram, she would still be here.”
Callie Greer is talking about her daughter, who died of breast cancer in 2013. She says her daughter didn’t have health insurance and as a result, was unable to get treatment in a timely manner.
“When we stand up here talking about Medicaid expansion, I don’t got a sob story,” she says. “My baby’s dead. I don’t have a sob story. I’m speaking for somebody else’s children.”
A group of lawmakers and activists are now pushing for Medicaid expansion harder, after a resolution was passed in the Senate opposing it.
“We’ve been talking and now it’s time to begin to do more,” says Senator Hank Sanders.
Sanders says they’ll do whatever it takes to stop the loss of lives.
“It’s alright to write your lawmakers but it’s not enough. We have been talking, we have been speaking, we have been writing and it just has not made a difference. It’s time to go beyond that and I leave that to the creativity of people.”
He says three Alabamians die every two days because of the failure to expand Medicaid. Debra Thomas says her son, who was recently hospitalized for pancreatitis, could have been a part of that statistic.
“If he had insurance, it wouldn’t have been an issue,” she explains. “He would’ve had his own personal medical doctor and he would have been seen and that condition would have already been identified.”
The majority of conservatives are against expansion, including Governor Robert Bentley who says he doesn’t want to take federal money. But supporters argue that Medicaid is just getting a bad rap.
“185 thousand out of 300 thousand are working people and another misperception is that this is a people of color issue,” says Joe Keffer. “It’s not an issue of color. The majority of the people that would get medicaid expansion are caucasion, anglo, whatever you want to call it, white people.”
We did contact Governor Robert Bentley to get his response to Wednesday’s meeting.
This is what his spokesperson sent us:
The governor is working to make the current Medicaid system more effective and efficient. He does not support expanding the current system of Medicaid. He does support a type of Alabama plan that would provide coverage for people with a job or in a job training program. He has spoken with Health and Human Services Secretary Burwell on his desire.
