FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, September 3, 2020
CONTACT: Liz Doherty
Dan Forest, VP Pence Share Anti-Choice Views, But Disagree On Something That May Come As A Surprise
RALEIGH — Today, Dan Forest will attend an anti-choice event with Vice President Mike Pence, but while the two hold similar extremist views that aim to attack reproductive freedoms, they do have a difference in opinion on something that might come as a surprise: Medicaid expansion.
In 2015, as governor of Indiana, VP Pence expanded Medicaid. Forest continues to oppose Medicaid expansion denying health care access to 600,000 North Carolinians, including some who have lost their health insurance due to job loss during the pandemic.
Both red and blue states, including Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma have expanded Medicaid. In North Carolina, 57% of residents support Medicaid expansion, including a growing number of local Republican leaders. Republican legislative leaders and Forest have opposed expansion at every turn, and so North Carolina is one of only twelve states that still hasn’t expanded Medicaid.
Expanding Medicaid would extend coverage to 600,000 North Carolinians, boost the economy by $4 billion, benefit rural hospitals, and create an estimated 40,000 jobs at no additional cost to the taxpayer. The pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for health care access, but, much like Republican legislative leadership, Forest still won’t budge on Medicaid expansion.
Liz Doherty, spokesperson for Cooper for NC, said, “Dan Forest’s refusal to expand Medicaid and extend health care coverage to 600,000 North Carolinians during a pandemic is unconscionable, but fits into his pandemic playbook: play politics and put people in harm’s way.”
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