A recent report says states that have expanded Medicaid have seen infant mortality rates decline 50% more than in non-expansion states. Expanding Medicaid saves babies’ lives. It saves mothers’ lives. Closing the coverage gap leads to healthier lives. These are facts established by medical researchers.
Expanding Medicaid saves lives. Refusing to expand Medicaid costs lives.
Look again at North Carolina’s high infant mortality rate. If North Carolina could get to the national average, we would save over 1,000 babies’ lives every year. Unfortunately, legislators continue to block hearing the Medicaid expansion bill. The single best thing we can do to reduce the infant mortality rate and improve maternal health is to expand Medicaid.
Expanding Medicaid will close the coverage gap for hundreds of thousands of eastern North Carolina residents and bring thousands of health care jobs. No region of the state will benefit more than us. It’s we join our neighbors in southeastern Virginia in expanding Medicaid and bringing the federal dollars we send to D.C. back to eastern North Carolina.
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