John,

Overnight, Republican legislators passed their long-overdue state budget. While there are many problems with this budget, it fulfills my promise to enact Medicaid Expansion.

Securing health insurance for 600,000 more North Carolinians will bring more mental health and substance use disorder treatment, help for desperate rural hospitals, and billions of dollars into our economy. It is a life-saving, monumental decision for our state.

Make no mistake, overall this is a bad budget that seriously shortchanges our schools, prioritizes power grabs, keeps shady backroom deals secret, and blatantly violates the constitution. Many of its provisions will face legal action.

However, we must recognize that this irresponsible legislature’s decade of refusal to expand Medicaid caused life-and-death situations for so many North Carolinians and threatened the very existence of numerous rural hospitals.

I will not allow people who are crying out for help to wait any longer. Medicaid Expansion must be enacted now, and I’m directing our Department of Health and Human Services to begin the process today. This budget will become law without my signature.

John, I won’t stop fighting for the schools, public servants, and taxpaying North Carolinians shortchanged by this backroom budget deal. I know, though, that we must defeat the GOP supermajority to make more progress on these important issues.

I’m personally asking you to make a small, grassroots donation of just $5 to help break the far-right stranglehold on our legislature so we can get back to work.

If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:

Thank you,

Gov. Roy Cooper