This week, a group of western North Carolina doctors spoke out against Republican congressional candidate Jennifer Balkcom.
”We feel that the citizens of western North Carolina, our neighbors and our friends, need to know about her positions on healthcare because they concern us,” Dr. Laura Helfman, a Marshall-based emergency physician said.
Three physicians based in North Carolina’s 11th District, which Balkcom is campaigning to represent in Congress, criticized her past votes and comments on both abortion and Medicaid expansion.
Balkcom was selected earlier this month to replace Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson County), who withdrew his reelection bid after a House Ethics Committee report recommended that he be censured over inappropriate conduct toward staffers. She will face Democrat Jamie Ager in November.
A member of the state House of Representatives, Balkcom voted for a 12-week abortion ban in May 2023 and against North Carolina’s Medicaid expansion bill in March 2023.
Balkcom said ‘abortion is never medically necessary’
Balkcom made this remark about abortion in a previous voter questionnaire. As both a candidate and lawmaker, she has consistently been an anti-choice voice in the General Assembly.
“ As a physician who works closely with my OB-GYN colleagues, taking care of pregnant women and critically ill newborns, I couldn’t disagree with that statement more,” Dr. Rachel Brown, an Asheville-based pediatrician, said.
Brown explained how there are times when ending a pregnancy is the only way to save the life of an expectant mother.
“ There are innumerable instances we encounter in medicine when abortion is the only medical choice available to save the life of the mother,” she said.
In May 2023, Balkcom voted for the bill that banned most abortions after 12 weeks, with exceptions for rape and incest up to 20 weeks, and up to 24 weeks for fetal anomolies. There is no restriction for abortion in North Carolina if the life of the mother is at risk.
A study from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health found that states that have enacted abortion bans saw a 9% rise in deaths associated with pregnancy.
“ We’ve seen the consequences of North Carolina’s ban, the ban that Jennifer Balkcom voted for,” Brown said. “Women being forced to delay their care […] they’re putting their healthcare, their future fertility, and their lives at risk,”
Balkcom opposed the state’s Medicaid expansion program
In the same questionnaire where she expressed opposition to abortion, Balkcom also said she opposed Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion provides healthcare coverage to adults aged 19-64 whose income is 138% of the federal poverty level or below.
“I do not support Medicaid expansion in North Carolina to cover childless, able-bodied adults,” Balkcom said.
Dr. Helfman, who has experience working in emergency rooms across western North Carolina, remembers the world prior to Medicaid expansion taking effect in the state in December 2023.
“ One 55-year-old patient of mine with prior heart disease who was unable to get insurance would have to come to the ER any time he thought there was a problem with his heart,” she said. “ He told me one time he already owed the hospital $300,000.”
Helfman said the expansion made a difference in his life and the lives of other patients.
“ After expansion, I only saw him when I saw him where he worked because he now had a doctor and he had coverage, and he didn’t need to come to the ER for his regular care. Another patient, who was also a friend, could finally get a hip replacement after expansion, and that allowed her to continue working, which she was getting ready to stop because the pain was so bad. These are the patients I think of when I reflect on Rep. Balkcom’s opposition to Medicaid expansion,” Helfman said.
Since Medicaid was expanded, the 16 mostly rural counties in District 11 have seen just under 49,000 people enrolled in the program.
Helfman also criticized outgoing Rep. Edwards for his vote for President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will cut $1 trillion from Medicaid over ten years.
“ We have an opportunity to replace him with someone who actually values healthcare. Jennifer Balkcom is not that person,” Helfman said.
