The Affordable Care Act makes money available to states so they can cover more uninsured low-income people through their Medicaid programs.

If all 50 states closed the coverage gap, millions more uninsured people could gain coverage, allowing them to get the care they need to stay healthy. Unfortunately, in some states, politicians are blocking this expansion, leaving millions of uninsured adults who live below the poverty line without an affordable health insurance option.

Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need is working with women and LGBTQ advocates throughout the country to make sure that as many states as possible will meet the health care needs of low-income women and their families by accepting the federal funds to pay for expanded Medicaid. RWV coordinators have played a role in victories in Louisiana, Montana, Pennsylvania and other states. To make the promise of the ACA real in all 50 states, we’ve developed a Community Organizing and Advocacy Toolkit to help activists raise their voices.

The Toolkit contains guides, ideas, templates, samples and other practical tools to get the community engaged in efforts to continue building momentum for expanding Medicaid in states that are still resisting. To download the Toolkit click HERE.

Cecilia Sáenz Becerra is a Program Officer at Groundswell Fund and a former Regional Field Manager for the NWHN’s Raising Women’s Voices initiative. With over a decade of activism for reproductive justice, Cecilia continues to work for women’s and transgender rights by co-founding Repeal Coalition and by serving on the board of directors for Access Reproductive Care – Southeast.

Read more from Cecilia Sáenz Becerra.