Doug Jones: ‘The First Thing I Would Have Done as Governor Is I Would Have Expanded Medicaid’ to Protect Alabama Residents

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
Collins: “If you‘re you‘re running for governor, you came out and announced that made an official tonight. But if you were governor right now, what would you do? Do you form an emergency plan or how would you be approaching this, this expiration?”
Jones: “You know, it‘s a it‘s a good question. Then the first thing I would have already done as governor is I would have expanded Medicaid. I would have given the people in in that insurance gap that we‘ve got here in Alabama the opportunity to get those federal dollars, to get that insurance and to get that help. We have lost billions of dollars in Alabama. It is one of the main reasons why our rural hospitals are closing at an alarming rate. So yeah, we would do that. But the minute that big, what I call the anything but beautiful bill was introduced, I‘d start calling people to, you know, right then to say, we need to prepare for the worst. Alabama‘s not doing that. I‘m not sure that other states are doing that, but we‘ve got to find a way to make sure people continue to get these, these health care that they deserve, that they have had. And so, as governor, you‘ve got to make sure that your people remain healthy. And I think you can do that if you simply get folks in the same room and talking about the same issues.”