New work requirements and the 3.5% provider tax cap will effectively end Medicaid expansion in the state, or create a $32 billion budget hole over the next decade.
“While on the surface, this may be in the best interest of trimming national debt and so forth, the implication for North Carolina is severe and very real.”
Questions about what could happen to the Medicaid program in North Carolina if President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill, aka the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” passes in Congress intensified over the weekend after US Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, announced on Saturday that he would not support it because of proposed cuts to Medicaid funding that would affect North Carolinians and hospitals in the state.
NC’s Medicaid expansion is facing a period of uncertainty as lawmakers prepare for the possibility that the federal government could reduce its financial commitment to the program.
Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of Medicaid expansion in North Carolina.
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) began sending out letters last week to up to 300,000 people who are enrolled in Medicaid’s limited Family Planning program and now qualify for full NC Medicaid benefits starting Dec. 1 thanks to Medicaid expansion that was passed earlier this year by the General Assembly and fully became law with the passage of the state budget in September.
Gov Roy Cooper and NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley announced Monday that Medicaid expansion will begin on Dec. 1. This will add hundreds of thousands of working-age, able-bodied adults to the state's Medicaid program, making it the largest single expansion of an entitlement program in state history.
Medicaid expansion is likely to increase the cost of healthcare for all North Carolinians, including those on the State Health Plan (SHP), according to State Treasurer Dale Folwell.
Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper signed the Medicaid Expansion bill Monday afternoon outside the Governor’s Mansion.
Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled what he called his “First in Opportunity” budget at a press conference Wednesday, proposing to spend $32.95 billion in the first year of the biennium and $34.23 billion in the second year. The budget keeps $7 billion in reserve and doesn’t raise taxes, but halts some planned tax cuts.
A proposal last week by the N.C. Healthcare Association to the North Carolina General Assembly to modify certificate-of-need laws was more of a twig than an olive branch, according to Senate Leader Phil Berger, R- Rockingham.
