State-contracted managed care agencies providing mental health services to Medicaid recipients have accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars in excess profits the state can’t allocate for additional treatment services, a state performance audit concluded. State Auditor Beth Wood released the report Wednesday, Jan. 23. It slams the state Department of Health and Human Services and...
There are clearly public investments worth raising taxes to finance — but after a certain point, higher taxes depress valuable private investment more than they increase valuable public investment.
Conservatives should hasten and formalize the transition of the insurance exchanges into high-risk pools, the policy Washington and the states should have pursued in the first place.
What can lawmakers consider during the 2018 short session? Not everything, because of limits imposed by the long session Adjournment Resolution. Important issues such as school funding, certificate of need repeal, work requirements for Medicaid, repeal of the capital gains tax, changes to the ABC system, and more will be delayed until 2019. But there’s still plenty of work for legislators. Cross-over bills are OK, as are all budget bills and...
The May 16 teacher gathering in Raleigh is inspired by teacher demonstrations in other states and is energized by the desire of public school advocacy groups to weaken Republican control of the General Assembly. It’s political mobilization disguised as a “rally for respect.” The N.C. Association of Educators has been unusually forthcoming about the partisan...
Medicaid is the largest spending item of the roughly $53 billion flowing through state coffers this year, yet state policymakers have minimal control over the program. Joseph Coletti, a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation, noted the major role of Medicaid and other health and human services spending during a presentation Monday, March 12...
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...
Health care reform is only worth doing if it will significantly constrain the inflation of health care costs in the coming years and decades, including expenditures by Medicare and Medicaid.
When it comes to acting on fiscally conservative principles, there are important differences between Republican lawmakers in Raleigh and Republican politicians in Washington, D.C.
With Gov. Roy Cooper’s desire to expand Medicaid withering on the vine, legislative leaders decided to dismiss a lawsuit that sought to block what they saw as unconstitutional action. “We are pleased Gov. Cooper abandoned his plan to defy state and federal law and unilaterally expand Obamacare in North Carolina, but remain prepared to take swift legal action if he...
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 would speed the integration of mental health services...
