During Friday’s episode of Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” State Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) argued now is the time for Medicaid expansion, given Alabama is in the throes of a struggle with the coronavirus pandemic.
Singleton pointed to workers filling jobs currently deemed essential amid the pandemic shutdown, and noted how many of those were without health insurance coverage.
“I think that Medicaid expansion definitely needs to be on the table,” Singleton said. “We’re being stretched right now. I think if we had Medicaid expansion in this state, the 340,000 Alabamians that work every day — some of these frontline workers in the grocery stores, they’re some of these essential workers that we see out here now that has been at risk and does not have health insurance — and if we had expansion of Medicaid, we could be assured that every Alabamian would have some form of medical care that they could go in and get treatment.”
“Right now, if the young lady who is working at the grocery store gets sick tomorrow, has to go into the hospital and stay for a period of time, there’s no medical care for her,” he continued. “There’s no medical care for the drivers who are out there driving and delivering groceries, the people who are working at the drug store — the clerks. We need to make sure we give all Alabamians access to health care because there’s a disproportionate of help — when you those underlying elements that people are dying from, it’s because simply they don’t have health care to be able to go to the doctor and get them treated before they get out of hand.”
The Hale County Democrat said he would not be opposed to calling it “KayCare,” in honor of Gov. Kay Ivey, who would be a part of any decision to expand Medicaid rolls.
“I think it is already changing minds,” he said. “They might not want to call it expansion of Medicaid. As I’ve always said, it could be ‘KayCare.’ It doesn’t have to be ObamaCare. It could be KayCare. I don’t care what it be. As long as we can expand it, make sure that every Alabamian has it and make sure we are taking care of people who are out here who are vulnerable but yet are still putting their life on the line right now and not having adequate medical care. And that is something that unacceptable in the state of Alabama in 2020.”
“It can be that — I don’t care,” Singleton added. “I’ve said that on the mic. It doesn’t matter with me as long as we make expansion, as long as we reach out and make every Alabamian the opportunity to have medical care, and I think that’s what’s going to help us in these kinds of pandemics that we are facing right now today.”
Singleton said he thought it would likely take a special session of the legislature, given the limited amount of time remaining in the current regular session.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.
