Summer intern from Creighton, Paul Romero, collection a signature for the ballot petition

Initiative 427 has been approved to be on the November ballot! Thanks to all the OTOC volunteers that gathered over 3,500 signatures in the summer during the ballot initiative. The work isn’t over yet! We still need your help for voter turnout and voter support for initiative 427 that would expand Medicaid in Nebraska.

Calling and Canvassing opportunities: 

Mon thru Fri: 4:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Sat. & Sun.: 10 AM – 6 PM

5115 Leavenworth Street, Omaha

Can you contribute two hours to:

• Make phone calls to encourage sympathetic voters to return their early ballot, put out a yard sign and invite them to volunteer. If you would prefer to call from your home, the ITGL office staff will help you be able to do that.
• Canvass a neighborhood to visit homes of sympathetic voters, alone or with a buddy, encouraging a vote FOR Initiative 427, Medicaid Expansion. If you want to  walk your neighborhood, we can help you with a list of your neighbors who are registered to vote.

OTOC’s goal is to have fifty (50) OTOC leaders volunteer for this effort  during the month of October. Let us know how you want to help by emailing us at [email protected]

Stop in when you can for however long you can to help! Training, scripts, maps, names, street addresses and call lists are supplied

Please let the ITGL Office know when you can help by emailing one of these ITGL staff:

Kamryn at [email protected] or

Riley at [email protected]

There are also letter writing opportunities.
We have Letter to the Editor Guidelines, Medicaid Expansion Talking Points, addresses of newspapers, both local and across the state. If you don’t want to write a letter, but you would be willing to submit a letter that has been written for you, please let us know. That, too, could be very helpful. To receive resources and info about letter writing, contact Mary Spurgeon at [email protected] 

 We can get Medicaid Expansion into law on November 6! Thank you for giving this request your thoughtful consideration.

Why Medicaid Expansion? and this summer’s signature campaign:

Working together with Insure the Good Life, the OTOC Medicaid Expansion team has been hard at work collecting signatures to get Medicaid Expansion on the ballot in November. 

Should the measure get on the ballot and be approved by Nebraska voters, this would serve to expand Medicaid coverage to 90,000 working Nebraskans who currently do not qualify for the program because their income is too high while also having incomes that are too low to qualify for healthcare subsidies. In essence they are in a “coverage gap.” This ballot initiative would propose an expansion law to the ballot in November, and supporters need to gather 85,000 signatures by July 6. There is not only a moral obligation to this issue, but fiscal benefits of expansion as well. “Study after study shows that we wasted dollars delaying until it is often too late for diseases like cancer, diabetes, drug addictions, mental health, high blood pressure and heart ailments. Diseases that could have been prevented at a fraction of the cost, if folks had access to early preventative treatments.” Nebraska is currently spending $34 million of the State General Fund for state disability programs, drug programs for HIV and AID’s patients, prison health and behavioral health programs. Even if Nebraska chooses to direct the full 10% of its share on expansion $22.3 million, the federal government picks up all the other costs for those programs, as well as the other cost of Medicaid expansion in the rest of the state. Moreover, the $34 million is replaced by the $22.3 million nearly reducing state spending by $12 million a year. Thirty four states have already approved this legislation. Maine is the most recent conservative state to approve Medicaid expansion, and they did this over the objection of their Governor, by ballot initiative.

For years the Medicaid Expansion team has been working on passing legislation at the state level that would allow for the state of Nebraska to take advantage of federal subsidies that would expand the Medicaid program. Despite being successful in pushing for the passage of legislation multiple times within the Unicameral, the threat of a veto from the current as well as past governors has caused this process to stall. 

Along with signature collections, the Medicaid Expansion team has been working to inform local congregations of the Medicaid Expansion initiative and also train others to collect signatures themselves. Through these distributed efforts, the Medicaid Expansion team has developed a substantial list of OTOC volunteers working to collect signatures for this initiative.

As one of the largest coordinated group of volunteers in the state working on this issue, OTOC leaders stand to play a large role in ensuring this measure gets on the ballot and “insuring” the good life for all Nebraskans. Visit Insure the Good Life site to learn more about statewide efforts. 

Now its Up to You!

On May 31^st at Creighton Preparatory School Omaha Together One Community leaders and members of the Omaha community gather to discuss Medicaid expansion in Nebraska.

The meeting began with an exceptional presentation from OTOC Medicaid Expansion Action Team leaders Mary Spurgeon and Carol LaCroix M.D. The presentation surrounded the ideas behind why Nebraskans should be in support of expanding Medicaid and the ballot initiative movement throughout the state. This ballot initiative would propose an expansion law to the ballot in November, and supporters need to gather 85,000 signatures by July 6.

The ballot initiative movement in Nebraska is strong, and this meeting inspired more individuals to sign and start gathering signatures themselves. Although the movement is strong, we need all the help we can get. If you are interested in hosting an event at your parish please contact Mary Spurgeon at [email protected]