Alabama is one of twelve states that have not adopted the Medicaid expansion created under the Affordable Care Act. That leaves many residents in a coverage gap, too poor to benefit from the ACA marketplace subsidies but earning too much to qualify for Medicaid.
This week five Alabama churches, including three Episcopal churches will hold vigils for Medicaid expansion.
The Alabama Political Reporter:
“We will demand that our elected officials do the right thing and expand Medicaid now,” said Rev. Kelley Hudlow, lead documentarian
for the Alabama Committee of the Poor People’s Campaign, in a statement Friday. “Medicaid expansion would help more than 340,000 Alabamians get health coverage, stabilize our rural hospitals, and jump-start our economy – all for a dime on the dollar.”
…The candlelight vigils will be held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Brown Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa, Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Gadsden, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Montgomery, and All Saints Episcopal Church in Mobile, all at 6:30 p.m.