“I’m conservative. I’ve always voted for Republican. Well, I never imagined getting involved in fighting for Medicaid expansion.” “I never imagined myself as a political activist.” “I did vote for Donald Trump, but I believe all human beings should have access to health care. I don’t believe it’s a party issue. Our people are dying.” “Health care can’t wait.” “There’s no debate.” “Health care can’t wait.” “22 groups gathered for the same reason at the same time all across North Carolina.” “Now, if any of you have ever been uninsured, please raise your hands.” “The Medicaid gap affects millions of Americans who make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to qualify for Obamacare or private insurance.” “We need to expand Medicaid in North Carolina.” [applause] “The governor wants to pass Medicaid expansion, but it’s currently not in the budget, and the Republicans are holding it back.” “500,000 people stand to benefit from Medicaid expansion if it’s passed. But this isn’t just a problem in North Carolina. 13 other states have yet to expand Medicaid. In total, this leaves 4.5 million Americans without health care coverage.” “I’m an industrial electrician. I have a spine disease we call spinal stenosis. And when I lost my insurance, and I didn’t have no means to get my medication, I then resorted to illegal activities such as stealing and selling them, and it ended up putting me in the court system — prison. And it’s an ongoing thing trying to get out of the system.” “I was a server for almost 14 years. It’s not that I never put in hard work. I realized that I was $80 out of the Medicaid gap, meaning I made $80 too much to qualify for Medicaid. I did what an average citizen does — they just do and do until they’re sick. It’s not acceptable. $80 shouldn’t mean my life is really what it boils down to.” “My oldest daughter Jessica died May 12, 2018. Jessica had struggled with mental illness the majority of her life. She did not qualify for Medicaid. She truly fell into the coverage gap. I’ve done everything I know how to do as a parent to take care of my children to prepare them for adulthood, to be able to take care of their self. The one thing I could not do for my daughter was provide her with health care after she became an adult.” “Tell them what democracy looks like.” “This is what Democracy looks like!” “We desperately need to expand Medicaid in our state.” “Even if you don’t think it’s the right thing to do morally, it is the right thing to do economically.” “It’s been our opinion that taking on that additional obligation to cover additional people is not something that makes fiscal sense for us.” “We’re already paying for this in other ways. When someone goes to the emergency room, and they can’t pay their bill, as my daughter did it many, many times over, we all pay for that cost.” “Basically, the incentives of providing coverage for those folks is something that disincentivizes folks to go to work.” “The stigma attached to us is that we are lazy, we’re dumb, and that we only want to subsist on government programs. And that is just not true.” “The system is failing us. It’s failing hundreds of thousands of us. We all deserve health care in some form or fashion.” “North Carolina is a swing state. The Republicans better understand if they do not start taking care of their constituents, we will find people that will.” “If they don’t care about our health, then have I been wrong all these years? I mean, as a conservative, I do agree that something is wrong with this picture.” “Republicans in the state of North Carolina, I need you to vote yes for Medicaid expansion.” [music]