Brandon has three little girls, no job, and no health insurance. His company launched mass furloughs just weeks after North Carolina shut down its economy over the coronavirus pandemic. Brandon’s job didn’t last long, and his health insurance became a casualty. Brandon is familiar with the risk of being uninsured. Years ago, he racked up...
Democrats and Republicans have been debating health care reform for decades in Washington. It’s the wrong location — and which national plan to adopt is the wrong question.
The chief executive officer of Blue Cross N.C. has resigned amid charges of drunken driving and misdemeanor child abuse. Dr. Patrick Conway was arrested in June after he sideswiped a truck driving on Interstate 85. His two young daughters were in the back of the car. The BlueCross N.C. Board of Trustees asked Conway for...
As the Obamacare individual marketplace bleeds unsubsidized enrollees, Blue Cross N.C. is looking to reverse a surge of earlier premium increases. In 2020 Blue Cross N.C. will reduce average rates in all counties for the first time in more than 25 years, when it entered the current individual market. The insurer will shave off 5.5%...
Uninsured small businesses in North Carolina could find another avenue toward getting health care via a bill on Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk. Senate Bill 86 would allow small businesses to band together under trade associations and bargain with health insurers as larger employers. As the bill risks becoming trapped in the debate over Medicaid expansion,...
Top-ranking senators have introduced an omnibus health-care bill that would add severely disabled people to the Medicaid rolls and abolish restrictive certificate of need laws. Sens. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, and Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenburg, discussed Senate Bill 361, The Health Care Expansion Act of 2019, at a March 26 news conference. It also would create a...
The Senate has overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 86, which could make high-quality, affordable health care insurance available to tens of thousands of North Carolina residents lacking coverage. The bill enables the growth of Association Health Plans, designed for small businesses and individuals unable to afford insurance. The plans allow individuals and business owners to cluster...
Now that the individual mandate is essentially gone, we should be embracing reforms that work with our traditions of individual freedom and federalism rather than against them.
Health policy experts say President Donald Trump could rekindle Obamacare repeal efforts by killing the handouts insulating Congress from the program’s costs. “If Obamacare is so great, why isn’t Congress abiding by its rules? Rescinding the carve-out would expose Congress to the actual cost of Obamacare,” said Katherine Restrepo, health care policy analyst at the...
The once-floundering state Medicaid system is expected to stay within its budget for the fourth consecutive year. Meanwhile, a planned switch to managed care is getting positive reviews from federal regulators. State Department of Health and Human Services officials gave those updates Tuesday to members of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Medicaid and NC...
DURHAM — Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace Obamacare leaves the fate of free-market health reforms unclear. Some analysts maintain faith the states have enough leeway to deregulate insurance markets even if Washington fails to act. Others are more skeptical, saying federal bureaucrats must make a priority of state-level flexibility. And in states like North...
