We support universal access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. With low wages and with part-time workers are not receiving benefits, working people are caught in a vicious cycle of medical debt. Medicaid expansion does not go far enough to close these gaps; someone making just over $21,000 per year still does not qualify for Medicaid. As long as health insurance is tied to employment status and income, inequities will persist. Universal, single-payer healthcare is the only solution to guarantee healthcare as a human right. 

Everyone should be able to make their own decisions regarding our lives and health. Since the US Supreme Court struck down our constitutional right to abortion, North Carolina legislators enacted a 12-week abortion ban with cruel and medically unnecessary restrictions. We know if we do not compete for power, they will continue to restrict our access further. Our healthcare providers must be able to provide high-quality, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services to all people with respect and compassion. We believe that our government should protect reproductive rights and access, including abortion and contraception, and it has no role in telling us how to live our lives. 

Everyone in North Carolina should have fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink. Right now, big corporations like Duke and Dominion, have been given monopolies on our infrastructure and tremendous political influence in Raleigh- prioritizing profit over the planet. At a time of rapid corporate-created climate change, we need smart policies to save our land and move us toward a just and green economy. Lawmakers should create a quick transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy such as solar and wind. Under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Action, billions of dollars have been unlocked for local counties and municipalities to rebuild their infrastructure and build buildings that produce zero carbon emissions. Our state and local governments must do everything possible to access these funds, to rid our communities of potentially harmful lead pipes and chemicals, and to protect our rivers and streams from pollution. 

Millions of North Carolinians struggle with addiction. Whether it is tobacco, alcohol, prescription medications, or illicit drugs, addiction should be treated as a matter of public health, not a criminal act. Over the past decade, deaths of despair have doubled here and from 2000 to 2020, more than 28,000 North Carolinians have died from drug overdoses. We need policies that get at the roots of the problem: mental health, poverty, and lack of community support. Our government must find holistic solutions to this crisis, including expanding health coverage, reinvestment in our state’s mental healthcare system, and passing legislation to ensure that incarnation is not the leading form of treatment.  

North Carolina has one of the largest rural populations, yet our government continues to divest in healthcare in small towns. Many of us have to leave our county to get quality healthcare, and often, there is only one local hospital, causing overcrowding and serious staffing issues. In many of our rural counties, there is a lack of trauma centers, mental health infrastructure, reproductive care, maternal care, and pediatrics. With limited to no mass transportation to leave the county to see a doctor, this situation can be a matter of life and death for us. We must allocate funds to enhance and expand healthcare facilities in rural North Carolina, ensuring that we all have access to well-equipped hospitals, clinics, and telemedicine services.