Letter: Right time to do the right thing on expanding Medicaid

Easing the burdens of our neighbors struggling to pay costly medical bills because they are in the North Carolina coverage gap when it comes to health insurance frequently reminds me of a Haitian proverb, "What the eye doesn't see, doesn't move the heart."

The "gap" refers to people who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to get help in the private insurance market. The Kaiser Family Foundation has estimated that if our state took action to close its gap, more than 600,000 people would gain health insurance and proper care. The stunning number includes 23,000 uninsured military spouses and children — one in four veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan lack health insurance.

Many working families are in a similar quandary. They clock into work but not with employers who can afford to offer health insurance. So they and their families don't seek proper preventive care, leading to devastating and heartbreaking preventable illnesses.

Fortunately, we are closer than ever to expanding Medicaid. Our legislative and executive branches agree in theory and are currently negotiating terms..

As N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said at a Medicaid expansion press conference in May, "This is the right time and the right thing to do."

BOB HUDAK

Greenville