A Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise Decision to Expand Medicaid Under the ARP

North Carolina has a new opportunity to make sure that both the health and wealth of our state recovers from the pandemic!

By expanding Medicaid, North Carolina can gain an extra $1.7 billion in federal dollars for two years and more than 600,000 people could see a family doctor.1

A great deal got even better!

Under the American Rescue Plan, North Carolina can get at least $1.7 BILLION from the federal government to expand Medicaid ON TOP of the federal government paying 90% of the cost for expansion forever!

  • More than 1in 10 North Carolinians can’t see a medical doctor2
  • Mental health concerns and substance use disorders are on the rise with COVID-19
  • 1 in 3 North Carolinians have reported feeling symptoms related to anxiety or depression since April 20203
  • There has been a 15% increase in ER visits for substance use or binge drinking4
  • In May 2020 there were 828 Emergency Department visits due to opioid overdose, compared to 658 in May 2019. This represents a 25% increase5

Expanding Medicaid is Health Justice

Only 2% of justice-involved people are eligible for Medicaid as it is now6

  • 71% of people in NC prisons need long-term substance use disorder treatment and 65% have a mental illness7
  • Upon release, an estimated 90% are uninsured8

NOW IS THE TIME FOR NC TO EXPAND MEDICAID!

TAKE ACTION TODAY and Contact your Legislator to Urge them to Expand Medicaid!

Footnotes

  1. https://www.kff.org/report-section/how-many-uninsured-adults-could-be-reached-if-all-states-expanded-medicaid-tables/
  2. https://www.kff.org/statedata/election-state-fact-sheets/north-carolina/
  3. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health.htm
  4. https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/08/05/covid-anxiety-depression-tripled-substance-abuse-up-15-nc/5547156002/
  5. Opioid Overdose ED Visits. Injury Free NC; NC DHHS https://www.injuryfreenc.ncdhhs.gov/DataSurveillance/
    StatewideOverdoseSurveillanceReports/OpioidOverdoseEDVisitsMonthlyReports/
  6. U.S. Government Accountability Office. Medicaid: Information on Inmate Eligibility and Federal Costs for Allowable Services. 2014. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-14-752r
  7. https://www.ncleg.gov/documentsites/committees/JointAppropriationsJPS/Reports/FY%202017-18%20Mandated%20Reports/DPS_Substance_Abuse_Program_Annual_Report_2018_03_01.pdf
  8. Zaller, N. Cloud, D. Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. Martino, S. Bouvier, B. Brockman, B. The importance of Medicaid expansion for criminal justice populations in the South. 2017.