By Dreama Caldwell, Down Home's Co-Director
How do we know what issues matter most to people? We ask them and then we listen. Down Home is uniquely tied to place and our ground game is strong– our members and our teams are from the places we work. They know them like the back of their hand.
We have been knocking on doors in communities all across rural NC– in the mountains, in the piedmont and down east. We wanted to hear about what keeps them up at night. Over and over again, the issue that people talk is healthcare. Not being able to get health coverage, not being able to afford going to the doctor, or getting the prescription drugs they need, medical debt their family was facing.
We have members who have died waiting on Medicaid Expansion. Without it they were without the lifesaving care they needed and today they are no longer with us. We will continue to build power in the memory of these members . We also will continue to push for Medicaid Expansion.
The frustrating thing is that our legislative leaders know that healthcare is a major issue for North Carolinians. Earlier this summer we heard both Speaker Moore and Senate President Pro Temp Berger talk about the need to expand Medicaid – both giving full support for moving this forward, and yet, here we are at the end of August, and still no movement on Medicaid expansion.
This is simply not acceptable.
The health of North Carolinians should not be a political game or a showdown between the NC Senate and NC House. Because In this game there is no winner, and the people of NC can’t wait any longer for healthcare.
And the only losers in the NCGA will be the politicians who keep blocking Medicaid expansion, remember, remember, we vote in November.
No more games. Expand Medicaid Now.
