Durham Reporter

Governor Roy Cooper recently took to social media to call upon legislation to expand Medicaid, saying it is costing both money and lives as it has continued to stall.

“Failure to expand Medicaid is costing lives and $521 million a month,” Cooper said on Twitter. “It’s time to get this done.”

Cooper included a link to an editorial piece by WRAL, which questioned why the North Carolina Legislature has blocked these funds that could go to residents in need of medical care access. The piece said that money could be used to find cures to cancer, but is instead being used for advertising. Television and digital advertisements began last week and are “urging lawmakers to expand Medicaid” to “more than 600,000 veterans, farmers and cancer patients.”

The editorial said that there is “no reasonable excuse” for another legislative session to go by without Medicaid expansion. The article referred to American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network Managing Government Relations Direct John Hoctor, who said “cancer isn’t partisan and neither is having access to affordable health care.”

The editorial said that since 2014 there has been a “mean-spirited display of antipathy and partisan spite toward former President Barack Obama.” This, it said, led to a ban on Medicaid expansion among legislators. 

North Carolina is one of 11 states that has not expanded Medicaid, and the state has more than $40 billion in federal funds since 2014. North Carolina taxpayers are, in turn, helping pay for Medicaid expansion in “overwhelmingly Republican states” including Arkansas, Louisiana, Utah, Indiana and South Dakota.

Other figures to consider, the report said, include that 4,240 to 15,200 people have died who couldn’t get lifesaving care; 110,458 women could not get breast cancer screening mammograms; 236,500 diabetics went without medication and 118,000 jobs were not created.

The editorial continued, saying that while there are many reasons to avoid the expansion, including political games, it should be done because it is “simply a matter of doing the right and decent thing.” It said that it is a “shameful legacy” to let thousands die and be negatively affected.

“Our legislative leaders, who will be coming back for a repeat performance in January, have demonstrated they can move major pieces of legislation in mere hours,” the editorial stated. “They should apply that determination as the first order of business when the new legislative session convenes. Stop the suffering and demonstrate real leadership.”