Health Care for All NC is continuing the important work for Medicaid expansion in North Carolina. The group is hoping concerned residents will add their names to a petition calling on the Governor and members of the General Assembly to immediately accept federal funds for the expansion.
As the petition reads in part:
By refusing to accept Federal money to expand Medicaid, up to 500,000 poor North Carolinians who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid are blocked from enrolling.
Christian and Jewish scripture both address God’s requirement for social justice toward the poor. The Hebrew prophets and Jesus, also within the prophetic tradition, urged the rich to take care of the poor. The Jewish principle of Tikkun Olam calls upon Jews to “repair the world” and pursue social justice. According to Muslim tradition the Prophet taught that wealth is “a gift entrusted to the wealthy by God (57:7, 2:254, 4:39, 13:22), therefore the poor and the needy are entitled to a share of the society’s wealth (51:19, 70:24-70:25).”
For members of these faiths and many others, it is a spiritual duty and a moral obligation to help the poor. Many faiths and faith-based organizations have endorsed guaranteed, universal access to health care for all people living in the U.S., including Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Unitarian Universalists, United Church of Christ members, and the Central Congress of American Rabbis. Similarly, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in 2002 called on the Federal government to increase its share of funding for Medicaid programs, expanding health care for low income people, and the Islamic Medical Association has explicitly endorsed Single Payer National Health Insurance.
As well as signing on themselves, Health Care for All NC invites individuals and faith communities to share information and the link with others and to encourage their participation, as well.
