Health

No one should have to go without the medical care they need simply because they can’t afford it. Investments in Medicaid, ALL Kids, mental health care and other health services help Alabamians stay healthy and productive, and they lay the foundation for a future where all of our residents have a chance to thrive, regardless of their income or background.

Arise works to identify and eliminate the structural barriers that prevent many of our friends and neighbors across the state from accessing the health care they need. We examine how a variety of policy solutions, including Medicaid expansion, would help break down those walls and strengthen the health care infrastructure on which all Alabamians rely.

Personal Stories

‘I just want to go to the doctor’

“I get these bills in the mail, and it’s so much stress. I don’t like owing people money. So I just don’t get help even when I’m in pain.”

Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
January 15, 2025
Author
Whit Sides
Personal Stories

‘Coverage needs to be affordable for everyone’

Valerie is disabled, living without health coverage in rural Wilcox County. After 30 surgeries, she’s got thousands of dollars in medical debt.

Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
January 15, 2025
Author
Whit Sides
Handbook

The Alabama Maternal Health Toolkit

    "To improve maternal health, we have to focus on improving all women’s health and access to care – not just during labor and delivery, but before and after pregnancy, and throughout our lives." - Dr. Leana S. Wen Download a full PDF copy of The Alabama Maternal Health Toolkit here. You also can [...]
Issue
Health
Date
January 2, 2025
Author
Alabama Arise
Resources

Las prioridades legislativas de Alabama Arise para 2025

Más de 150 grupos miembros de Alabama Arise y más de 1,500 miembros individuales eligen todos los años nuestras prioridades legislativas. Este proceso garantiza que los habitantes de Alabama más afectados por la pobreza participen de las decisiones. A continuación se enumeran las prioridades que nuestros miembros eligieron para 2025. Para obtener una versión de este [...]
Issues
Budgets, Criminal Justice, Health, Public Transportation, Safety Net, Tax Reform, Voting Rights, Medicaid Expansion
Date
December 23, 2024
Author
Alabama Arise
Member Resources

Alabama Arise 2025 legislative priorities

More than 150 Alabama Arise member groups and more than 1,500 individual members choose our legislative priorities each year. This process ensures that Alabamians most impacted by poverty have a seat at the table. Below are the priorities that our members selected for 2025. For a PDF version of this document, click here or click [...]
Issues
Budgets, Criminal Justice, Health, Public Transportation, Safety Net, Tax Reform, Voting Rights, Medicaid Expansion
Date
October 23, 2024
Author
Alabama Arise
Personal Stories

From a childhood in the cancer ward to a lifetime in Alabama’s coverage gap

Lary Brooks is a fighter.  At just 2 1/2 years old, he was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a bone and blood cancer that nearly took his life. Lary survived thanks to the life-saving treatment he received at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. “I was a week from dying when they found [...]
Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
October 16, 2024
Author
Whit Sides
Fact Sheet

What are the benefits of a universal school breakfast program in Alabama?

Alabama should do more to equip schoolchildren and teachers for success. Our state consistently ranks among the bottom five states for educational outcomes. And one essential school supply missing from several Alabama schools would immensely improve said outcomes: universal school breakfast. Below are a few of the positive effects that universal school breakfast would have [...]
Issues
Budgets, Health, Safety Net, Other Issues
Date
August 26, 2024
Author
LaTrell Clifford Wood
Fact Sheet

Universal school breakfast helps Alabama children learn and thrive

School breakfast helps kids learn: Children who start the day with breakfast learn better. They have better classroom participation and are less likely to skip school than kids who don’t get breakfast. But tight family budgets and stressful mornings mean many children arrive at school hungry. School breakfast can help fill this gap. School, bus [...]
Issues
Budgets, Health, Safety Net, Other Issues
Date
August 26, 2024
Author
Carol Gundlach
Fact Sheet

Expand Medicaid to save moms and babies in Alabama

Where you live shouldn’t impact whether you get health care. But many women face preventable barriers to obtaining maternal health care in Alabama. Closing Alabama’s health coverage gap through Medicaid expansion is an essential part of the solution. Alabama has experienced a steady rate of labor and delivery department closures in recent years, creating several maternity [...]
Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
August 20, 2024
Author
Debbie Smith
Fact Sheet

Summer EBT for 2025

A state appropriation for Summer EBT will ensure $40 in food benefits per summer month for more than 500,000 eligible Alabama children ages 5-17.   1 in 4 Alabama children are food insecure. Too many of our children don’t know where their next meal will come from. Because of systemic barriers to food access, a [...]
Issues
Budgets, Health, Safety Net
Date
August 1, 2024
Author
LaTrell Clifford Wood
All Issue Resources