As Speaker of the North Carolina House, Senator Tillis blocked Medicaid expansion, a policy that could have provided health coverage for more than 600,000 North Carolinians during the COVID-19 crisis. A Families U.S.A. report found that in states that have not expanded Medicaid, the percentage of laid-off workers that became uninsured during the COVID-19 pandemic nearly doubled compared to states that had expanded Medicaid.

Just last summer, Senator Tillis bragged, “I am the Speaker of the House who signed the bill that made it illegal to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.”

While Senator Tillis brags about blocking health care, Cal Cunningham has repeatedly “positioned himself as a defender of the law and proponent of Medicaid expansion.” 

Tillis continues to double down on his fight against Medicaid expansion. He has: 

• Run ads in 2014 saying he “stopped Obama’s Medicaid expansion cold.”
• Voted to fully or partially repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would eliminate the option for states to expand Medicaid
• Continued to stand behind the GOP lawsuit that would stop states like North Carolina from expanding Medicaid

With Oklahoma and Missouri expanding Medicaid in recent months, North Carolina remains one of only 12 states that has not expanded health care to low-income working families — and as Senator Tillis’ own ad says, “it’s because of Thom Tillis.”