Ending the Medicaid Blockade

The Moral Bankruptcy of GOP needs re-thinking!  

The message below from MoveOn:

Another state is joining the right side of history. Pennsylvania will soon become the 28th state to offer Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act.¹ After years of stonewalling by Republican Governor Tom Corbett, who's fighting for his political life in a tough re-election bid, Pennsylvania will also join a growing group of Republican-led states to lift their self-imposed Medicaid Blockade.²

The announcement is a welcome relief for up to 500,000 Pennsylvanians who would otherwise be left without any health coverage.³ It's also a deep affirmation of the hard work by elected leaders, groups organizing in Pennsylvania like Keystone Progress and Working America, and health care activists who've been advocating for Medicaid expansion—including hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members like you.

MoveOn members in North Carolina rallying in March for Medicaid expansion

Across the country, MoveOn members are pitching in and participating in other campaigns to pressure elected officials and change the public debate around Medicaid expansion. In Pennsylvania alone, more than 13,000 MoveOn members signed petitions to the Republican governor urging him to accept the federal funds to cover the state's residents under Medicaid.

In Utah, one MoveOn member, independent filmmaker Paul Gibbs, made a documentary called "Entitled to Life," which won wide praise for shining a spotlight on the stories of people in the Medicaid gap.^4,5 With support from MoveOn members, Paul is now making films featuring the stories of people trapped behind the Republican Medicaid Blockade in other states—starting with North Carolina and Florida.

MoveOn members like you are crucial to making these campaigns and victories possible. State by state, we're steadily winning on Medicaid expansion—and we're winning the argument about whether to keep moving forward to ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care. In another sign of the shifting politics around Obamacare, even Gov. Bill Haslam, the Republican governor of bright red Tennessee who's up for re-election, is moving toward Medicaid expansion.⁶ Now, with 23 states left to go, and the wall of opposition steadily cracking, it'll take all of us pitching in to fully end the Republican Medicaid Blockade.⁷

For now, we just wanted to share this terrific news—and thank you for all you've done, and will do.

–Victoria, Ben W., Alejandro, Aiyi'nah, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Republican Governor Agrees To Expand Medicaid For Low-Income Residents In Pennsylvania," The Huffington Post, August 28, 2014
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=300540&id=100603-3735812-QGHrKTx&t=1

2. "GOP Governor In Tough Re-election Bid Prepares To Implement Obamacare," ThinkProgress, August 28, 2014
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=300541&id=100603-3735812-QGHrKTx&t=2

3. Ibid.

4. "Entitled To Life," Filmmaker Paul Gibbs, June 3, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2kEubKv1LI

5. "Film: Tragic stories of Utahns in the Medicaid coverage gap," The Salt Lake Tribune, June 4, 2014
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=300168&id=100603-3735812-QGHrKTx&t=3

6. "Haslam may submit Medicaid expansion plan in fall," The Tennessean, August 28, 2014
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=300551&id=100603-3735812-QGHrKTx&t=4

7. "Status of State Action on the Medicaid Expansion Decision," Kaiser Family Foundation, accessed August 29, 2014
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=296305&id=100603-3735812-QGHrKTx&t=5