Image of nurses' hands at computer keyboard

The NAACP is pushing hard for lawmakers to approve Medicaid expansion efforts in North Carolina togive half a million state residents an alternative should they lose private insurance subsidized by thegovernment under the Affordable Care Act.

The push comes as the U.S. Supreme Court today isscheduled to open deliberations on a lawsuit that could effectively withdraw those government healthinsurance subsidies for millions of low-income Americans.State Rep. Rosa Gill (D-Wake) on Monday pleaded with lawmakers to approve a measure to expand North Carolina’s Medicaid program to cover more than half a million state residents who would lose theirsubsidies should the Supreme Court rule in favor of plaintiffs in the King v. Burwell case.

Gill saidinsurance companies, medical professionals and others may also become financially unstable ifMedicaid expansion isn’t approved in the state. 

The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that states could not be forced to expand their Medicaid programs, although officials believed most would. North Carolina is among the vast majority of states that didn’t have their own health insuranceexchanges set up during open enrollment. 

King v. Burwell plaintiffs have argued that the ACA only legally allows subsidies provided by state healthexchanges, not HealthCare.gov. At risk in King v. Burwell are the subsidies about 9 million Americans are getting from enrolling for health insurance through HealthCare.gov.

The NAACP, which hasn’t taken a national policy stand on Medicaid expansion, partnered with state andlocal leaders to host an “Affordable Care Act Tour” last year in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Miami,Philadelphia, Phoenix and throughout New Jersey.