Deborah Koff Ross: “The American Rescue Plan will finally deliver needed aid to individuals, families, workers, businesses, and healthcare…”

“The American Rescue Plan will finally deliver needed aid to individuals, families, workers, businesses, and healthcare systems. I am proud that this Congress has taken such swift action to get this important work done. I want to highlight one part of the bill that would be life-changing for hundreds of thousands of people in my State. Sadly, North Carolina is one of only 12 States that has not expanded Medicaid under the ACA. This failure has left over 600,000 low-income North Carolinians without healthcare. The American Rescue Plan provides an added incentive for States like mine to expand Medicaid. The bill offers a 5-point increase in the Federal funding match for Medicaid for 2 years to States that choose to expand the program during this pandemic. This would bring North Carolina more than $2 billion in Federal healthcare coverage for our most vulnerable people and help our hardest-hit hospitals. Madam Speaker, our State desperately needs the relief provided in this bill.”