NAACP pushes for special session

Seven months after the N.C. General Assembly’s rejection of Medicaid expansion, the N.C. NAACP is pushing Gov. Pat McCrory to call legislators back to Raleigh for a special redemption session to reverse that decision.

Faith leaders from the organization wrote an open letter to McCrory earlier this month. They are circulating the letter among people and advocacy groups involved in the Moral Monday/Forward Together movement, which stemmed from the summer’s protests at the legislature.

The N.C. NAACP will deliver the letter and signatures to McCrory on Nov. 27.

The letter states that according to some estimates, more than 2,000 North Carolina residents will die premature, preventable deaths each year from the effects of rejecting Medicaid expansion.

N.C. health centers already serve a disproportionate amount of uninsured patients, said Ben Money, president and CEO of the N.C. Community Health Center Association.

Money said nationally, 38 percent of patients served by health centers are uninsured — but that number jumps to 52 percent in North Carolina.

He said 52 percent reflects the average for all 34 health centers in the state, though the figure approaches 70 to 80 percent for some facilities.

“As long as the decision remains not to expand, it really threatens the viability of the health centers,” he said.

He added that the General Assembly did not dismiss it wholeheartedly — he said legislators feel like the system should be fixed before they even think of expanding.

“In talking to legislators, one of their main concerns was the sustainability of the program overall,” Money said.

The legislature also decided earlier this year to reject federal funds meant to provide unemployment insurance, which the N.C. NAACP said would cause 100,000 families in the state to lose the benefits.

Both legislative decisions will take effect Jan. 1.

The NAACP’s letter cites North Carolina’s unemployment rate, which is fifth-highest nationally, and poverty issues. According to the letter, nearly 25 percent of people who work in North Carolina make less than poverty wages for a family of four.

Irv Joyner, legal adviser for the group, said past governors of North Carolina have called special sessions on occasion.

“They have called them back into session for a number of other purposes, but not for one like this,” Joyner said.

After delivering the letter to McCrory, the organization plans to hold a Service of Redemption in Raleigh on Dec. 23, modeled after the summer’s Moral Monday protests.

Trials for the hundreds of arrestees from the protests have already begun. Rev. William Barber, president of the N.C. NAACP, appeared in court on Friday for his ongoing trial.

According to a statement, the N.C. NAACP hopes to either celebrate McCrory’s decision to call a special session or protest the state’s insistence on allowing the legislation to go into effect.

“We will not stand silent while our neighbors and families are excluded from the touch of human love and kindness by the rigidity of a band of ideologues,” Barber said in the statement.

“We will witness against these policies which go directly against our deepest constitutional values and our deepest moral values.”

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