Medicaid expansion proponents to sleep in the Capitol ‘until their voices are heard’
Proponents of Medicaid expansion will sleep in the capitol building Wednesday night. (Anna Orso)
By Anna Orso
Beaver county Blue via Pennlive.com
June 26, 2013 – Hannah Williams is a 21-year-old gregarious single parent who works full time and is studying to become a nurse. Her daughter, Grace, has medical needs like any other 3-year-old kid.
So when the cash-strapped Williams foots the bill for those needs, money gets tight.
“It’s a big burden,” she said. “When you’re a single parent, you are the provider, the nurturer and I’m stuck with next to nothing.”
Williams, of Pittsburgh, is one of about 500,000 people in Pennsylvania who don’t qualify for Medicaid, but would if lawmakers decide to expand the medical assistance program by accepting federal funding.
Medicaid expansion supporters march to the governor’s residence Wednesday to stage a "sick-in."
The expansion, as proposed by the Affordable Care Act, would make all adults between the age of 19 and 64 who are at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level eligible to receive Medicaid.
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