Health Care

The average cost for health care in North Carolina is $8,015 per year, making it the eighth most expensive state for health care in the United States. Health care costs were out of control before the pandemic, but the pandemic has made things worse.

Our coalition supports:

• Closing the coverage gap by expanding Medicaid. The North Carolina General Assembly has refused to pass legislation to expand Medicaid despite the fact that taxes paid by North Carolinians already fund the program. As a result, North Carolinians are paying for Medicaid expansion for other states that have voted to expand, while not receiving the benefits of the programs for themselves. Members of working families make up 86% of uninsured North Carolinians. More than 600,000 adults in North Carolina are employed but not insured. Expanding Medicaid would insure nearly 634,000 North Carolinians by 2022, including an estimated 30,000 uninsured veterans who are not covered by the VA.

• Working with health professionals to fight COVID-19. In order to safely reduce restrictions and get North Carolina back to work, we have to listen to experts – not special interest politicians like Joyce Krawiec who compared the worst public health disaster of our lifetime to the flu. Over 170,000 North Carolinians have tested positive for COVID-19 and over 2,000 have lost their lives since the start of the pandemic.

• Expanding rural health care access. In Forsyth County, 15.6% of adults and 23.2% of children are uninsured. In Davie County, 14.9% of adults and 21.4% of children are uninsured. Guaranteeing that working families in rural Forsyth County and Davie County have access to affordable health care starts with Medicaid expansion – which would help thousands of North Carolinans. 

• Creating thousands of new jobs in the health care industry. Medicaid expansion would grow our economy by $4 billion dollars and create over 37,000 new jobs by 2022.

• Developing a comprehensive plan to deal with mental health. Everyone deserves access to high quality mental health care. The pandemic has made the mental health crisis in America worse. Now, more than ever, we must have a plan to provide quality mental health coverage to North Carolinians. Joyce Krawiec’s opposition to affordable health care expansion denies thousands of people who are living with mental health conditions the critical care they need. Fixing the coverage gap which would expand care to over 150,000 North Carolinians who are seeking addiction and mental health treatment.