The latest debate in the North Carolina General Assembly is one over pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs. Senate Bill 257 and a House committee substitute (PCS) to that bill represent similar but competing visions of regulating PBMs. Though sometimes villainized, PBMs play an important role in the U.S.’s…
Health care comes at a premium for many North Carolinians who wait weeks for appointments, travel miles to see a clinician, and endure costly inefficiencies and inequities within the health care system. As a nurse practitioner (NP), I’ve seen firsthand the effects of our state’s outdated health workforce laws ―…
N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper was in Charlotte Monday to welcome the Centene Corporation, a provider of managed care services for Medicaid, public, and private health plans. It claims to be the largest provider of Medicaid services in the nation. The company announced last year that it selected Charlotte for…
In late March, N.C. Sen. Thom Tillis announced he would soon undergo surgery to treat prostate cancer. The treatment is now complete and, family by his side, a full recovery is expected. But as the Senator noted, his “prognosis was good” because he went to his annual physical and diligently…
A bill that would allow North Carolina State Health Plan administrators to see the prices of surgeries and other medical care advanced in the N.C. House on Tuesday. H.B. 169 allows the Health Plan access to its claims payment data and negotiated rates. The State Health Plan provides insurance coverage…
“The day you can hug your loved ones again” never came for the 5,009 North Carolinians who died of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities between June 25, 2020, and March 4. This death count doesn’t include the many more thousands of deaths occurring in facilities around the state unrelated to the virus but can be attributed…
Programs like Medicare and Medicaid sold as making health care more “affordable” may dramatically lower the price of health care to enrollees, but very well may increase the costs to society of delivering care.
Medicaid expansion would inexplicably hurt the most vulnerable North Carolinians.
The General Assembly must ensure that any emergency funds address pandemic caused needs and do not expand or create new government programs.
A Senate panel passed legislation Thursday to accelerate mental health Medicaid reform and free up nearly $1 billion in frozen assets to provide more behavioral health services. Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, a co-chairman of the Senate Health Care Committee, presented an amended version of House Bill 403 that…
