[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 10, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H7396]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           MEDICAID EXPANSION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Alabama (Ms. Sewell) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the 
urgent need for 24 States to expand Medicaid for the 5.7 million 
Americans who fall into the Medicaid gap.
  Among those excluded are 435,000 cashiers, 341,000 cooks, and 253,000 
nurses' aides. These hardworking Americans should not have to choose 
between groceries and medicine or between rent and a doctor's visit.
  On behalf of all Alabamians, I would like to extend my sincere 
gratitude to my colleagues, Representatives Butterfield and Johnson, 
for heading up the State Medicaid Expansion Caucus, of which I am a 
proud member.
  It is painfully unsettling that the 24 States not expanding Medicaid 
are the very States where the concentration of those living in poverty 
and without health care is the most acute. The 24 States that have 
rejected Medicaid expansion are home to over half of the Nation's 
population, but 68 percent of the poor, uninsured, Blacks, and single 
mothers. These constituents have the highest burden of illness and 
costs to our entire health care system.
  The 235,000 Alabamians and 5.7 million Americans who fall in the 
coverage gap are our most vulnerable citizens. About 60 percent of the 
Nation's uninsured working poor live in these 24 States.
  These individuals pay their taxes, they work hard, and they 
contribute to our community. Our government should support them in 
return. To not expand Medicaid for these hardworking Americans is 
reckless disregard for their dramatic needs and their important work 
that they do in our community.
  Expanding Medicaid is not only a moral imperative, but an economic 
imperative as well. There is not a State in the country that will 
benefit from its refusal to accept Federal dollars provided to them to 
expand their Medicaid program.
  Alabamians need jobs, and they need health care. Without raising a 
cent in taxes, my Governor and State leaders can achieve both job 
creation and health care coverage by expanding Medicaid.
  The facts are clear. There is not an economic development investment 
in Alabama's history that would provide the State with 35,000 new jobs 
like Medicaid expansion would. Our State leaders cannot be honest with 
their constituents in arguing that they are interested in economic 
development while turning down $375 million a quarter.
  In the State of Alabama, the income ceiling for Medicaid in its 
current form for a family of three is $3,560 annually. That is less 
than $10 a day for a family of three. This is the lowest Medicaid 
income ceiling in the country. So families that earn a mere $15 a day 
are left behind when it comes to being able to afford access to 
affordable health care.
  While I understand the political realities in which we operate and in 
which my Governor operates, I do not understand the shameful neglect of 
our most vulnerable constituents, our rural hospitals, and our fragile 
economy that is presented in our State's refusal to accept Medicaid 
expansion.
  Our most sacred responsibility to serve our constituents shall not be 
examined and instituted through such a dangerous partisan lens. With 
each day that my State of Alabama delays expansion, more of our 
constituents are unable to work due to unrelated health conditions.
  Americans who are both impoverished and sick should not have to wait 
one more day while our State leaders play political football with this 
urgent issue.
  This is why I am so proud to stand with my colleagues in the State 
Medicaid Expansion Caucus today in sending a clear message to our State 
leaders that enough is enough. We need to expand Medicaid now for every 
State in the Union.

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