To the editor:

I strongly support the North Carolina businesses you reported on in your story “Businesses to Lawmakers: Close the Gap” (Aug. 17). They are right that closing the medical insurance coverage gap would be good for business. So far, 37 states have already closed this gap through Medicaid expansion.

Closing the gap will save the government money. How? Today the uninsured get free medical care in the most expensive place possible. The emergency room. Where all unpaid bills are sent to the government.

Even worse, the uninsured seldom get preventive care. Because they can’t pay for it. So instead of a few dollars a month for generic blood pressure and blood sugar medication, at the ER it costs thousands of dollars to treat heart attacks and diabetic comas. Bills that go right to the taxpayers.

During a pandemic is also a great time to cut down on preventable ER visits.

Most other states and all other industrial countries have concluded closing the gap makes sense. We should join them.

Ted Halstead

Lillington