No word on Medicaid expansion as health care access issues plague Alabama
Just last week, Gov. Ivey addressed a room of fellow elected officials laying out issues affecting Alabamians and detailing her administration’s commitment to addressing them in the upcoming legislative session.
A lack of affordable, accessible health care was notably left out of the conversation, despite the growing number of issues and barriers that continue to plague Alabama’s health and subsequent economy because of it. Nearly half of Alabama’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure, 23 of our counties are without local pediatricians, and 1 in 5 Alabamians carry insurmountable medical debt.
Our state is in a health care access crisis.
As the threat of additional closures of rural hospitals across our state grows, so does the plea from community leaders in our rural areas for lawmakers to respond. The expiration of the continuous coverage requirement at the end of the month will kickstart the Medicaid renewal process and disenroll an estimated 61,000 Alabamians from coverage. This, of course, compounds the existing access to care gap that has blocked approximately 220,000 residents from affordable health coverage.
I’m disappointed to see Gov. Ivey fail to address the lack of affordable health care in our state and its immense and continued impact on Alabama families, hospitals and local economies.
As Gov. Ivey and the Legislature work through a legislative special session to allocate funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), they should not forget that ARPA includes much more than just “one time money” for the state. It provides a fiscally responsible, encouraging pathway for Alabama to finally increase Medicaid eligibility and cover 220,000 low-income adults. Under ARPA, the federal government has promised to provide billions of dollars in federal Medicaid funds as an incentive for states to increase eligibility.
As I write this, a Republican majority Legislature in North Carolina is acting quickly to maximize the financial benefit of ARPA’s Medicaid expansion financial incentive and is on track to expand eligibility within weeks — leaving Alabama as one in 10 states that refuse to increase Medicaid eligibility to low-income adults.
If Alabama chose to finally expand Medicaid, that would bring $2 billion in extra federal funds to the state, more than enough to cover the cost of increasing eligibility for 220,000 adults. And if we don’t act, too much money will be left on the table – money that would prevent more Alabamians from dying from preventable illness.
Governor Ivey and the state legislature should take the $540 million dollar ARPA Medicaid incentive and finally fix our broken health care system. Medicaid expansion has not only been necessary for quite some time, but it is as critical as ever for low-income families and our veterans.
Thankfully, health advocates like myself aren’t the only ones who agree we need swift action.
According to an ACS CAN poll in 2022 on the issue,most voters across party lines agree the government should protect people so they don’t lose their health insurance during this time of high inflation.
The moment we’re in today and events unfolding before us demand us to increase eligibility for Medicaid and provide residents with the health care they need to thrive. Gov. Ivey, it’s time we meet the moment.
Jane Adams is the Alabama Government Relations Director at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and Cover Alabama Steering Committee Member.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: No Medicaid expansion as health care access issues plague Alabama
