Rural Voices for Medicaid Expansion Virtual Training

Advocacy Opportunity: A Chance to Support Our Neighbors’ Health MANNA FoodBank is a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to sharing the issues that affect the people we serve across Western North Carolina. In western North Carolina, medical debt is the by far the largest debt impacting households’ ability to make ends meet. As we know, having access to healthcare is not a guarantee, particularly for many of the people we serve here in NC living below the poverty line, but above the threshold that would allow them to access Medicaid. North Carolina is one of a handful of states that has not yet accepted federal funding to expand Medicaid access to thousands. But thanks to ongoing conversation and advocacy work from people across the state, we now have a real opportunity to move the needle at the state level to expand Medicaid for more than 600,000 North Carolinians. For WNC, this could impact more than 86,000 people directly, as well as help support rural hospitals for better healthcare access for all people. Our friends at We Are Down Home are launching a campaign to build support to expand Medicaid in the new legislative session with the North Carolina General Assembly. Now through December 15, We Are Down Home will be hosting learning sessions open to anyone about why Medicaid expansion could be transformative for NC, and how we all can take simple actions to get involved and use our voices for positive change. We invite you to join a virtual session, learn more about this important advocacy work, and then be ready to join MANNA, and organizations and individuals across the state in a day of action in February.