2021: A Year in Review
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

NC Council of Churches

Strength in Unity, Peace through Justice

  • Voices
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Members
    • Covenant Partners
    • Issue Statements
    • Governing Board
    • Careers
  • Programs
    • NC Interfaith Power & Light
      • NCIPL Overview
      • Faith in Action NCIPL
      • NCIPL Articles
      • NCIPL Resources
      • Upcoming Events for NCIPL
      • Contact NCIPL
    • Partners in Health & Wholeness
      • PHW Staff
      • Mini-Grants
      • PHW Collaborative Pledge
      • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
      • Mental Health Advocacy
      • BIPOC Mental Health Grant
      • Growing Communities of Inclusion: A Faithful Response to HIV
      • Healthy Aging
      • Citizen Science
      • PHW Articles
      • FAQs
  • Priorities
    • Racial Justice
    • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
    • Gun Violence Prevention
    • Criminal Justice
    • Immigrant Rights
    • Public Education
    • Farmworkers
    • Legislative Advocacy
    • Christian Unity
    • Peace
  • Events
  • Resources
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Publications & Reports
    • Raleigh Report
    • Lectionary
    • Sermons
  • Donate
  • Council Store
  • Show Search

Search NC Council of Churches

Hide Search

Improving the State of North Carolina

Sandy Irving, Volunteer Program Associate · July 3, 2018 · Leave a Comment

“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees”
~Isaiah 10:1

The North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) just finished its 2018 short session without passing legislation that would help the uninsured in dramatic ways. In 2013, the NCGA refused to accept the Medicaid expansion part of the Affordable Care Act to help uninsured low-income North Carolinians even though the first three years (2013-15) were funded 100% by the federal government.  Our legislators continue to hold fast to this oppressive, unjust law even though our fellow citizens are dying (some estimate over 1000/year) and hospitals (at least 5 in NC) are closing. We, as people of faith, need to remember that the prophet Amos reminds us that God does not care about our religious celebrations but is concerned that we let justice and fairness flow like a river. Access to affordable health care is a justice issue.

According to Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of NC Department of Health and Human Services, if we move expanding Medicaid out of politics and into reality, we could see great benefit for NC. Expanding Medicaid could improve the health of North Carolina’s citizens as well as the economy of NC. The federal government continues to pay for at least 90% of the cost. If we closed this gap of currently uninsured North Carolinians, 340,000 (including 12,000 veterans) would receive health insurance. We could address the opioid epidemic by providing treatment rather than jail for those with substance use disorder. NC could provide low-cost primary care for prevention of diseases rather than high cost emergency room treatments. Expanding Medicaid would be good for business, providing 40,000 jobs in NC. At least five rural hospitals in NC have closed since 2013 when the NCGA refused to accept Medicaid expansion, making access to health care more difficult for the local residents and reducing local employment. Closing the gap means better premium value for those with private health insurance by lowering costs for everyone.

As people of faith, we must not be silent while our sisters and brothers die from the lack of health insurance which our legislators refused to allow. With elections in the near future, let all candidates know of your support of this issue. Dr. Cohen notes that 74% of our citizens approve of Medicaid. Let’s put Medicaid expansion on the campaign agenda so it will be among the first laws passed in the next session. Doing so would be a step in the direction of providing access to affordable health care for all God’s people.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Good Government, Health, Healthcare Reform, N.C. General Assembly

About Sandy Irving, Volunteer Program Associate

Health care reform, labor issues, member of NCCC peace, nominating and legislative committees. Activist for justice, grandmother of 6, Presbyterian and retired research associate from Biostatistics Dept, School of Public Health, UNC-CH. Currently on the board of NC Peace Action.

Reader Interactions

More Like This

Paid Leave Can Help Make Us Well
Politicians’ fear: Too many votes
‘For the People’ – or for whom?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Anonymous comments or comments that target individuals will not be posted (please include your first and last name). All comments must be on topic and respectful. Comments will not be posted until they have been reviewed by a moderator. Comments do not reflect the positions of the NC Council of Churches.

Footer

Contact

NC Council of Churches
27 Horne St.
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 828-6501
info@ncchurches.org

Facebook

Partners in Health and Wholeness

Featured

Improving the State of North Carolina

Latest Tweets

We are hiring! Join an incredible and dedicated team, @healthandfaith, working directly with faith communities and health-related resource partners across NC. Visit ncchurches.org/caree… for more info! pic.twitter.com/yYi1…

About 4 hours ago

We must #ExpandMedicaid in North Carolina. Lives depend on it. twitter.com/healthac…

Yesterday

We have supported reproductive choice since 1970. "To see that now, 50 years later, my 26-year-old daughter has fewer rights around reproductive choice than I had when I was 26? We are going backward and that is unconscionable,” said Jennifer Copeland. newsobserver.com/new…

About 2 days ago

#SCOTUS has overturned Roe v. Wade, making it crystal clear how much #CourtsMatter. Reproductive choice is a healthcare decision and women should make those decisions about their own bodies. We stand by those words today.

About 5 days ago

We affirmed in 1970 that reproductive choice is a healthcare decision and women should make those decisions “without embarrassment, excessive cost, and unwarranted delay.” We stand by those words today.

About 5 days ago

Follow @ncchurches

Latest Tweets

Greetings! Be sure to stop by our table at the Western NC Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church at Lake Junaluska this weekend! We hope to see you there! pic.twitter.com/30bk…

About 2 weeks ago

Hello twitter family! Be sure to stop by our table at the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church in Greenville, NC starting today! We hope to see you there! pic.twitter.com/l6X3…

About 2 weeks ago

Our mini grant cycle is now open!!! pic.twitter.com/eyRp…

About 3 weeks ago

RT @faithleadership Faith coalitions are addressing the opioid crisis by providing resources, connections and a destigmatizing vision. lght.ly/45iam80 Featuring: @okconfchurches | @ODMHSASINFO | @healthandfaith | @ncchurches | @DukeTMCI | @shannon_fleck

Last month

Join us for Sacred Conversations: Older Adults - Fraud & Scams on Friday, June 24th from 11 AM to 12 PM and learn to recognize common scams targeted towards older adults and how to protect yourself and those in your faith communities. ncchurches.ourpowerb…

About a month ago

Follow @healthandfaith

Latest Tweets

RT @scennetwork1 Join us for Season 2 of @CJYpodcast! We spoke to Catherine Coleman Flowers, one of the founding mothers of Environmental Justice from the South, about the lessons learned from her activism with the civil rights movement to the modern EJ movement. #SouthernVoices #CJY #Podcast pic.twitter.com/TzEr…

About an hour ago

RT @scennetwork1 We thank everyone who joined us for our first in-person convening since the pandemic started! We had a fantastic time and had over 30 organizations from the Southeast represented!🎉 pic.twitter.com/1KYc…

About an hour ago

RT @scennetwork1 We made the news last week! NC Faith Leaders Call on the U.S. to Pay 'Fair Share' for Climate-Related Loss! Read the full article here: publicnewsservice.or… pic.twitter.com/nltj…

About an hour ago

RT @cleanenergyorg Our fourth annual “Tracking Decarbonization in the Southeast” report examines the region’s electric power sector to answer: are the SE's largest utilities on track to reduce carbon emissions enough to avoid the worst of the climate crisis? 🧵 [1/5] cleanenergy.org/blog…

About 3 hours ago

Faith Leaders Call on U.S. to Pay Fair Share for Climate Related Loss #USFairShare Click to listen - 2min w/Rev. Malcom @mtmalcom & Rev. @Susannah_Tuttle: shar.es/afbjPy @scennetwork1 @uscan @WEDO_worldwide @ActionAidUSA @AlabamaPJC @foe_us @UCSUSA @ClimateNexus

About a week ago

Follow @ncipl

Latest Tweets

Copyright © 2022 NC Council of Churches · All Rights Reserved · Website by Tomatillo Design · Hosted by WP Engine