By Lauren Kolojejchick-Kotch, former staff member
The Transitional Health Insurance Program, LB 1032, failed to pass this year. But that doesn’t change the fact that nearly 100,000 Nebraskans still do not have a solution.
Almost 100,000 of our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members go without health insurance because they make too much to qualify for Medicaid, and too little to qualify for assistance to purchase health insurance through the exchange. Those that have health insurance pay more because so many go without.
We need you to illustrate why we cannot go another year without expanding coverage to Nebraskans in the “gap.” We need you during this interim to call, write, or have a conversation in person with your senator.
Write a letter to the editor to share your concerns. Do these things with the staff from the Center for Rural Affairs, or do them on your own. We need your voice and commitment.
Many of you know someone who falls into the “gap.” Maybe you fall into it yourself. Many of you have told us why you care about expanding coverage. Here are just a few of the things we’ve heard while working on this issue:
- Medicaid expansion means less worries for my family and friends who are stuck in the gap.
- It means my daughter and her children will have health care. They are struggling to make ends meet and need more support in their health care.
- This is a “movement toward justice for all."
- It makes no sense to deny health care coverage and to cause financial harm to our hospitals, particularly the smaller hospitals in rural communities, because of political posturing.
- If you can't pass it out of concern for the 97,000 neighbors affected, do it for economic reasons. No other action within your power will have as great an economic stimulus result. I say this as a former Director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.
- This is a dignity issue. No one should have to skip treatment or choose between treatment for a health condition and paying rent. We all want our neighbors to be healthy.
As citizens and residents of this state, it is our responsibility to talk with our senators about this issue.
