Raleigh – Graham County Manager Becky Garland and Board of Commissioners Chairman Dale Wiggins made the six-hour drive to Raleigh on Wednesday, Jan. 15, to participate in a press conference addressing the need for Medicaid Expansion. Wiggins and Garland attended at the invitation of Care4Carolina, a group working to close the health coverage gap in North Carolina.
North Carolina is 1-of-14 states not to have adopted the expansion. “We believe we have a responsibility to look after our citizens,” said Wiggins. “It’s a ‘human-being’ thing to us, not a political thing.”
The major point of contention between Governor Roy Cooper and many Republican legislative leaders, Medicaid Expansion has played a major role in the ongoing budget impasse.
House Bill 655, also known as “Closing the Coverage Gap or Medicaid Expansion,” was introduced in April of 2019 and is unanimously supported by the Graham County Board of Commissioners. The issue is particularly relevant to Graham County residents, as 18.6 percent of the population under the age of 65 is currently without health insurance.
“Our county residents are hard-working people who go to work every day to make a better life for their families,” said Garland. “Part of that better life is having sufficient access to health care, but unfortunately over 600 working adults in Graham County fall in the health insurance coverage gap. They don’t qualify for subsidies under ACA (Obamacare), yet cannot afford to put food on the table and pay a $1500.00 per month health insurance premium. HB 655 is designed to help those who work attain sufficient coverage so that the ER is not their primary care.”
According to George Washington University’s Center of Health Policy Research, Medicaid Expansion would allow 464,000 more North Carolinians to gain coverage while spurring business activity, increasing the Gross State Project and adding $500 million to state revenues.