In case you missed Duke Professor Michael Allen Gillespie's article "Too many wins for North Carolina to reject a Medicaid Expansion," here are some of the impressive benefits of expanding Medicaid, benefits lost when the NCGA voted to turn down federal dollars for Medicaid expansion.

According to the NC Justice Center, NC lost out on BETWEEN $15 and $20 BILLION DOLLARS over the first six years.

NC taxpayers still pay the same amount for the federal portion of the expansion as everyone else in the country, through FICA taxes. By rejecting the expansion, our tax dollars support health care of people in other states.

This care would have brought tangible financial benefits to the state: an influx of $1.3 billion to $1.7 billion a year, producing 18,000 to 25,000 new jobs and $497 million in additional tax revenue by 2021.

The expansion would have covered an additional 600,000 North Carolinians who have no insurance under the Medicaid program.

These lost benefits were discussed at Women's Advocacy Day at the NCGA on 4/9/13 and should be shared far and wide with all North Carolinians. Although the bill was quickly signed by the Governor, he needs to hear from us as we begin to understand the inexcusable losses to the economy and the people of NC. We must pressure lawmakers to reverse this decision -- not only does it make good economic sense to take federal Medicaid dollars, it could quite literally save lives.

Gailya Paliga

President, NC NOW

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/18/2690102/too-many-wins-for-north-carolina.html

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/12/2675166/mccrory-gop-plan-to-stop-nc-medicaid.html