An audit released by State Auditor Beth Wood’s office Thursday, Feb. 18, found the state Department of Health and Human Services did a poor job of gatekeeping the Medicaid Provider Enrollment process. The auditor’s office says HHS didn’t properly ensure that…
America’s convoluted, public-private health care system is filled with bad policies and inefficiencies. Government intrusion into the market has rendered it unusable and impenetrable for many. A lack of price transparency is one of the most glaring issues in America’s health care system. It’s hard to…
North Carolina state government is facing a severe cash crunch. The General Assembly needs to examine every part of the state budget to mitigate the problem through lower spending rather than higher taxes. N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, announced in April the Senate would not try to override Gov.
Health insurance coverage is one issue that will transcend short-term and long-term recovery from COVID-19. Short-term changes in health coverage will likely require long-term strategies to address the needs of individuals whose source of health coverage changed during the pandemic. A recent report by consulting firm Health Management…
Gov. Roy Cooper recently made it easier for people to apply for Medicaid coverage during the COVID-19 outbreak. State Auditor Beth Wood worries the new rules will weaken an already-lax oversight system and encourage fraud. The coronavirus drove Cooper to waive some oversight…
The coronavirus, by its very nature, is forcing regulators, insurers, and doctors to embrace telemedicine. The Trump administration scrapped Medicare’s restrictions on telehealth, freeing doctors to treat seniors with telemedicine. The administration is pushing state Medicaid programs to track Medicare’s higher reimbursements for telehealth, and some…
The possibility of a Republican version of Medicaid expansion has died in North Carolina. Republicans in the House had flirted with a version of Medicaid expansion that would extend coverage only to low-income working adults. But now that a federal appeals court has struck down work…
It was a tumultuous year for lawmakers in the General Assembly. Lasting well into October, this ‘long session’ was unusually long compared to years past. As will be the case in the 2020 election cycle, health care dominated the issues discussed during policymaking in this session. Many bills related…
Time is running out, and Medicaid transformation is imperiled. State representatives began questioning whether Medicaid managed care will fail under its current timeline. The concerns came during a Wednesday, Oct. 23, meeting of the House Health Committee. If a state budget isn’t passed…
Hubert Humphrey once said, “The ultimate moral test of any government is the way it treats three groups of its citizens. First, those in the dawn of life — our children. Second, those in the shadows of life — our needy, our sick, our handicapped. Third, those in the twilight…
