If you are following the actions of the 2013 NC legislature, you know that the idea of accepting federal funds that will cover health insurance for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians is in danger of being rejected by our legislature. The Senate has already declined to accept these funds (SB4), and we are told the House will take up the issue soon (HB16). If you care about health care for everyone, then you want to:
- Call Governor McCrory at (919) 733-5811
- Call House Speaker Tillis at (919) 733-3451
- Call and email your representative – go to www.ncleg.net to get the contact information and click on the icon ‘who represents me’ if you are unsure who your representative is
- Write a letter to the editor of your local paper
Would the NC legislature reject highway money that the federal government offered? But they appear prepared to reject money for health care that, according to a report by the NC Institute of Medicine, would:
- Provide coverage for more than 500,000 North Carolinians
- Support 25,000 jobs
- Help rural hospitals
- Increase the state revenues by $497 million by 2021
- Save the state $159 million over the next two years
- Increase annual state GDP by $1.3-1.7 billion a year.
As people of faith who believe in the divinity of all, we must provide health care for everyone. Ask your representative to reject HB16 and request that the governor accept the health care money offered to NC for the good of all.
–Sandy Irving, Volunteer Program Associate
