Senator Tillis launched his latest extreme makeover yesterday with a promise to “remember who needs [help] the most.” But his record reveals that far from helping those at the bottom, he’s blocked vital policies that would help the most vulnerable among us, chief among them the state’s ability to expand Medicaid.
 
Back in 2013, then-Speaker of the North Carolina House Thom Tillis passed a law making it illegal for the governor to expand Medicaid. He then ran ads touting his position and boasting that he “stopped Obama’s Medicaid expansion cold. It’s not happening in North Carolina, and it’s because of Thom Tillis.” Tillis again bragged about it last year, saying, “I am the Speaker of the House who signed the bill that made it illegal to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.”
 
Medicaid expansion would help 500,000 low income North Carolinians access health care, benefit every county in North Carolina, and reduce the chances of rural hospital closings. During the current crisis, those without coverage who would be helped by the state expanding access to Medicaid are left with “few options.”
 
Tillis recognizes that he’s on the wrong side of North Carolinians on this issue – leading to painful, awkward interviews where he dances around the question, like this mealy 2 minute long word salad he gave WBTV earlier this year. Pushed multiple times to answer, Tillis finally had to admit that his stance is that North Carolina should not expand health care access for working North Carolinians, saying that he’s against a “broad based expansion.”
 
“Senator Tillis’ new image is running into a harsh reality – his own record hurting North Carolinians who need help the most,” NCDP spokesperson Robert Howard said. “North Carolina won’t be fooled by new glossy ads, because they know who the real Thom Tillis is – a weak politician who blocks policies that would help the most vulnerable among us.”