North Carolina leaders have proposed closing the state’s healthcare coverage gap, which could result in over 600,000 North Carolinians gaining access to health insurance. North Carolina currently covers parents with incomes up to 42 percent of the poverty line and generally does not cover adults without dependent children. The expansion would lift income criteria to 138 percent of the poverty line for adults 19 to 64 ($29,400 for a family of three). North Carolina is one of 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid; only eight states in the U.S. have more austere income guidelines. If North Carolina successfully passes legislation to close the healthcare gap, data shows that in a single Calendar Year, about 600,000 more people will gain healthcare coverage.