This weekend the US Senate will vote on a bill called the Inflation Reduction Act. Earlier in the negotiation process this included the expansion of Medicaid to provide 2.2 million people living in poverty with access to healthcare, closing the Medicaid coverage gap. The smaller package being considered in the Senate this weekend has removed this expansion. However, the package is expected to include lower prescription costs in Medicare and a continuation of premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act insurance.

We stand firmly in the belief that the budget reconciliation package should also include funding to close the Medicaid coverage gap. This would be the only provision that would mainly benefit people in poverty.

Scripture asks, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” [1 John 3:17 NRSVue]

We know Jesus healed the sick and told his followers, “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons.” [Matthew 10: 7-8 NRSVue]

Join us in telling the Senate to help low-income people who have no health insurance because their state governments decided not to accept the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. Let them know that, as people of faith, we want the approximately 2.2 million Americans who live below the poverty line — mostly in the South, and mostly people of color — to have access to reliable health care. Without the expansion of Medicaid, they have no feasible way to obtain coverage so Congress must act. Medicaid must be expanded as an investment in the future of our nation and because we hold dearly our directive to help all who are struggling in poverty and to heal those who are sick.