Candlelight Vigil for Medicaid Expansion held in Birmingham

A small group of socially distanced and masked individuals met for a candlelight vigil for Medicaid expansion at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham on Monday night.

The Alabama Poor People’s Campaign hosted the event, in conjunction with the Nonviolent Medicaid Army. Both groups said they want Alabama to fight for Medicaid, which is being expanded in several states nationwide. Similar vigils were held in Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, Mobile and Montgomery.

This event was also in partnership with Shine a Light Alabama, a project from Alabama Forward, which urges people to remember and honor the lives lost during the pandemic with a candlelight ceremony.

The attendees mourned the human right of healthcare being held from people that need it desperately. Rev. Dollie Howell Pankey and Rev. Carolyn Foster led the vigil.

The people gathered to put pressure on government representatives to push for Medicaid expansion. “If other states can do it, so can Alabama,” one attendee said.

People held up signs, candlesticks and booklets on Alabama Medicaid. One sign read, “Healthcare is a human right.”

A speaker shares his story at a vigil for Medicaid expansion | Photo by Dawson Martin

Many attendees came with the intent to share their stories about loved ones lost. People expressed their feelings through scripture, songs and speeches. Leaders held a litany of prayer and candle-lighting for the uninsured and underinsured.

“We are here tonight because we are demanding Medicaid expansion,” said Foster, Faith in Community Organizer at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham, during the vigil on Monday evening.

One Attendee shared the story of her daughter overdosing and the struggle that followed to take care of her daughter’s three kids she left behind, all the while not being able to afford healthcare.

Another attendee had an extensive hospital stay and lifesaving surgery but could not work nor could not afford healthcare. He and his family can no longer afford to pay the hospital bills along with a family.

During the prayer led by Foster, eight volunteers came to the front and recited reasons for Medicaid expansion, followed by a group chant. “You are or have been one of us. We know or have known others. We care for you, and we pray for you, remembering that we are all brothers and sisters.”

The vigil closed with a ceremony remembering and honoring the loved ones attendees had lost during the pandemic. People brought photos and held them up, shouted their names aloud and had a moment of silence in the candlelight.

The people that attended the event were said to be “moving forward together, not one step back,” which is the slogan of the Poor People’s Campaign.

Provisions for expanding Medicaid were added to President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Act. Alabama is one of only 12 states that have yet to move forward with Medicaid expansion.

The expansion of Medicaid would provide healthcare for thousands of low-income families and people affected by COVID-19. According to a study from Families USA, an estimated 200,000 Alabama residents — or –about one-third the population of Wyoming–, —are uninsured and would be eligible for Medicaid if expanded.