By minimizing stress points and work disincentives, we can ensure that all North Carolinians have access to the healthcare coverage they need to thrive.
North Carolina’s Medicaid program will expand on December 1 to offer fully subsidized health plans to virtually every legal resident whose household income is at or below 138% of the federal poverty line. Notice I said “offer.” Many individuals and households who’ll now qualify for Medicaid are already enrolled in other health plans, either through...
Are Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, Republican House Speaker Tim Moore, and Republican Senate leader Phil Berger about to strike a deal to expand North Carolina’s Medicaid program? I don’t know. The three leaders have been negotiating for months. While they broadly agree on the expansion itself, Berger’s chamber is the only one to have passed...
When the Obama administration and its congressional allies enacted the Affordable Care Act more than a decade ago, Medicaid expansion was its centerpiece.
The Trump administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last week unveiled a new model for how states could finance and design benefit plans for the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — Medicaid expansion population. The new federal guidance gives states that have expanded Medicaid a tool to control costs...
Congressional Democrats are trying to take away what little potential flexibility states have over their health insurance markets. If they are successful in their challenge to a new Trump administration rule, states will lose out on increased opportunities to use federal waivers for innovation in state health insurance markets. Section 1332 of the Affordable Care...
As we near the end of President Trump’s third year in office, it’s worth looking back at some of the health care policies enacted by this administration so far. Given that next year is an election year, it’s a safe bet that leaders from both parties won’t try to bring any major health care legislation to Congress. Setting aside the failure to...
Small businesses struggling with health-care costs could gain new bargaining power with insurers, after a controversial bill passed the House, 82-32. Senate Bill 86, which passed Wednesday, Aug. 7, would broaden access to association health plans, allowing small businesses to band together when negotiating with insurers and deciding on health coverage. It’s a controversial solution....
“Economies of scale, lower administrative costs, and more coordinated care will lower overall costs and improve the quality of health care.” This is a line we typically hear when large hospital systems merge or acquire smaller practices. To many, this may seem reasonable. For example, think about a large retail store such as Walmart. When...
If Medicaid expansion forces taxpayers to pick up the tab for a service that was either previously paid for some other way or not consumed in the first place, there is no reduction in the cost of care.
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.
