Civil Disobedience and Physicians — Protesting the Blockade of Medicaid

On May 6, 2013, I was arrested by the North Carolina Capitol Police in front of the doors of the state Senate chamber, protesting our legislature’s decision to forgo Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For a practicing physician and professor of medicine, this was an unusual turn of events in an academic career. But given that 23 states have decided not to expand Medicaid, I find it less surprising that I was arrested than that more health care professionals have not taken to the streets to protest the harm being wreaked on our patients by decisions driven by partisan politics.