ATLANTA — One local voting rights group is raising awareness for Medicaid expansion to support black families living in rural Georgia.
Black Voters Matter will host several rallies and pop-up health clinics at five locations where rural hospitals have closed Sunday, August 28, 2022.
As of 2021, in the past decade, eight rural hospitals have shut down in Georgia; only Texas and Tennessee have had more closures, according to Kaiser Health News.
According to the Sheps Center's North Carolina Rural Health Research Program, rural hospitals that serve communities with large Black populations are more likely than rural hospitals overall to be financially distressed.
The program's research shows that rural hospitals that are financially distressed and serve areas with greater Black and/or Hispanic populations are more likely to close.
Medicaid expansion would help rural Georgia hospitals stay open.
Rural hospitals in states where Medicaid has been expanded are 62% less likely to close than rural hospitals in non-expansion states like Georgia.
Medicaid would allow revenue that would keep hospitals open.
The nonprofit plans to draw attention to the absence of strong policy supporting rural families as part of their "Healthcare is on the Ballot" campaign.
The clinics provided aim to call on state legislators to take action and expand Medicaid to ensure equitable access to healthcare and help close the gap in coverage for communities of color.
The rallies will be held in Calhoun, Hancock, Peach, Randolph and Stewart counties.
Pop-up clinics will include mobile vaccine testing, wellness checks, and CPR training, as well as Q&As with local community leaders.
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