Jack Lewis: Equip vets to care for their health

Veterans like me know you never declare victory until the mission is truly accomplished. So this Veteran's Day, while we cheered that Medicaid expansion is the law of the land, we were also on alert to make sure implementation is well planned and executed. Thousands of veterans in the insurance "coverage gap" are counting on it.

The "coverage gap" consumes people who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but who do not earn enough to get help in the private insurance marketplace. In North Carolina, this includes an estimated 16,000 veterans and 23,000 uninsured military spouses and children. Incredibly, one in four veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan lack health insurance.

This sad state of affairs can lead to tragedy. Last year, the mother of a North Carolina veteran wrote of her son's struggle to overcome an illness — a struggle that ultimately failed in part because he lacked consistent insurance to help cover the cost of treatment. Her son died not on a faraway battlefield, but here at home.

In rural areas, many veterans face significant drive times to the nearest V.A. clinic. Veterans in rural areas tend to be older, and they tend to have more intense health challenges. Traveling long distances to receive care is not easy, and sometimes just doesn't happen. Medicaid expansion will do much to stabilize rural hospitals, which have been rocked in recent years by waves of uninsured people seeking help. So if a veteran needs to seek out a rural hospital, he/she will be covered and the facility will be in good shape.

Policymakers wisely acted this year to make North Carolina the 41st state (including the District of Columbia) to expand Medicaid, in part to ensure consistent health coverage for the sons, daughters, mothers and fathers who have protected our freedom. For this, we salute them.

Expansion is now set to go live on Dec. 1 — just weeks away. As exciting as this is, it's also mission-critical that we use these countdown weeks both to prepare educational material to alert potential beneficiaries of how to apply and to make sure our infrastructure is built sturdy and strong enough to accommodate them.

As doggedly as the NC Department of Health and Human Services is working on all this right now, the private sector and nonprofit groups also have a role to play. They can and should use their voices and our platform to help shepherd those interested to appropriate resources. This means taking the time to educate ourselves so we can exemplarily perform this crucial duty.

As a veteran, I'm proud to be part of Care4Carolina, the statewide, nonpartisan coalition that long advocated for expansion and is now helping to spread the word on enrollment. We will use our network to make Medicaid expansion in North Carolina a shining success for the rest of the country. I encourage other organizations to do the same, especially those fields such as construction, hospitality, construction and retail with a high number of people in the coverage gap.

As veterans know, readiness and execution are everything.