Southerners Call on Speaker Pelosi and Congress to Expand Medicaid

Nearly 200 advocacy organizations send letter urging Speaker Pelosi and Congressional leadership to include Medicaid Expansion in the latest budget bill.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Dany Guerrero, Every Texan
Daniel Barrera, Texas Organizing Project, 214-957-6234 

Austin – In the latest push for Medicaid Expansion in the 12 straggling states, nearly 200 advocacy organizations, representing constituencies across the states that have not expanded Medicaid, sent a letter urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Congressional leadership to support a comprehensive and permanent solution to the Medicaid coverage gap in the Build Back Better reconciliation bill. 

These organizations are committed to advancing racial and health justice from the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid and have advocated for nearly a decade to urge their state policymakers to adopt the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion. The reality remains, however, that these state leaders are unlikely to expand coverage without federal action, similar to other fights for racial justice of the past and present. 

Thus, organizations call on Congress to fix the Medicaid “coverage gap” once and for all in the FY2022 Budget Resolution and make this vision a reality. Failing to act on this historic opportunity to close the coverage gap would mean continuing to leave over 2 million low income adults, mostly Black and Latino, without any pathway to basic, life-saving health care coverage. 

Letters were sent to Speaker Pelosi as well as Representative Hoyer, Representative Clyburn, Chair Pallone, Chair Neal, and to U.S. Senate leaders. Organizations from the 12 non expansion states are sending similar letters to their own state congressional delegations. 

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