April 30. By Dave Vieser. NC Rep. Christy Clark (D-98) joined with other Democratic legislators in Raleigh to introduce House Bill 1040, designed to expand Medicaid in North Carolina and increase access to affordable health care for more than 500,000 North Carolinians.

“Expanding health care coverage lowers costs for all families,” said Clark, who represents Cornelius in the legislature. “When people are uninsured, they delay care until it is really expensive and then they go the Emergency Room where all of us end up paying through higher premiums and costs,” she said.

CLARK

Clark said the state’s failure to expand Medicaid has left it more vulnerable to pandemics and public health crises because of the high proportion of uninsured. “The unprecedented coronavirus pandemic makes it even more apparent that North Carolina urgently needs to join the 37 other states that have expanded Medicaid,” she said.

The legislators also noted that Medicaid Expansion would create over 37,000 new health care jobs and boost paychecks across the state, according to a Cone Health Foundation report.

The other sponsors were:

—Rep. James Gailliard (D-25)

—Rep. Sydney Batch (D-37)

—Rep. Scott Brewer (D-66)