Medicaid Expansion

Alabama Arise is proud to be a member of the Cover Alabama Coalition, a group of advocates, businesses, faith leaders and health care professionals making the case for Medicaid expansion. Click here to learn more about Cover Alabama.

Hundreds of thousands of Alabama adults have no health coverage. Tens of thousands of them suffer daily because they can't afford treatment for chronic health conditions like cancer, diabetes or heart disease. Hundreds die every year as a result. Meanwhile, eight rural hospitals have closed in Alabama since 2011, and many others are at risk of the same fate.

Medicaid expansion would reduce human suffering and strengthen Alabama's health care system. It would save lives and deliver financial peace of mind to families who desperately need it. And it would create jobs and generate tax revenues by pumping billions of federal dollars into the state's economy. Arise's research reveals why Medicaid expansion is the right choice for Alabama from economic, health and moral standpoints.

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
Voting Rights, Medicaid Expansion, Budgets, Criminal Justice, Health, Public Transportation, Safety Net, Tax Reform
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

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

Close the health coverage gap for Alabama’s veterans

Many Alabama veterans face preventable barriers to obtaining health care. Closing our state’s health coverage gap through Medicaid expansion is an essential part of the solution. Approximately 10,000 Alabama veterans are uninsured. In 2022, half of Alabama veterans who were uninsured had an income below 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL), which is the [...]
Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
May 14, 2024
Author
Suhas Kellampalli
Fact Sheet

It’s time to expand Medicaid and close Alabama’s coverage gap

Nearly 300,000 Alabamians with low incomes would benefit from Medicaid expansion. People in the coverage gap earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough for an affordable private health insurance plan on the Marketplace. This leaves them in the health coverage gap. The vast majority of people who would gain coverage through Medicaid [...]
Issues
Medicaid Expansion, Health
Date
April 2, 2024
Author
Alabama Arise
Personal Stories

‘I just thought things were the same everywhere’

Medicaid coverage was a vital lifeline for Saraland resident Jolene Dybas as she recovered from a health emergency. But after losing that coverage during the Medicaid unwinding period, she has had to go without needed health care.

Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
March 25, 2024
Author
Whit Sides
Personal Stories

‘No one should have to go through what I did’

When Diana Isom became pregnant with her first son, Keenan, back in 2021, it was what she’d always wanted.

“My husband and I had been trying for years. I was so happy, but immediately started thinking about timing,” Diana said.

Timing is always a big consideration for most first-time parents, but for Diana and her husband, Luke, things were a little more complicated. When Luke lost his job suddenly, he had to start training in a new technical field. This meant he lost the private health coverage they had previously.

Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
January 10, 2024
Author
Whit Sides
Resources

Alabama Arise toolkit on the Medicaid ‘unwinding’ period

Alabamians at every income level should be able to get the health care they need to survive and thrive. Medicaid plays a vital role toward meeting that goal, providing health coverage for more than 1 million Alabamians with low incomes. But tens of thousands of Alabamians may lose their Medicaid coverage by June 2024 in a process called “unwinding.”

Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
August 23, 2023
Author
Alabama Arise
Personal Stories

See the Gap: ‘Medicaid expansion would end up creating more revenue for the business’

Just outside the Forecast Salon in Homewood is a gigantic mural painted along the wall. It features every color of the rainbow jumping out into the street. You’re up close with a 10-foot disco ball painted right beside a unicorn and two massive blue and purple manicured coifs. Forecast’s owner Brittany McNaughton (friends call her [...]
Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
July 27, 2023
Author
Whit Sides
Personal Stories

See the Gap: ‘I needed help but couldn’t afford it’

The smiles in Eryn Mullins’ photos jump off the screen. But she’ll be the first to tell you it wasn’t always this way. “I was on my dad’s insurance, and then suddenly, I wasn’t. I was uninsured for three years after that,” Eryn said.

Issues
Health, Medicaid Expansion
Date
July 13, 2023
Author
Whit Sides