Medicaid Expansion agreement announced by legislative leaders

In a press conference Thursday, Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore announced that an agreement has been reached between the chambers to expand the federal Medicaid entitlement program in North Carolina.

The state is one of eleven to have not done so yet as part of the Affordable Care Act. Under the ACA, N.C. taxpayers would pay 10% of its expansion moving forward. The federal government has promised to pay 90%. An estimated 600,000 or more able-bodied working age adults would likely be added to the Medicaid program.

Lawmakers say that Gov. Roy Cooper, a proponent of Medicaid expansion since taking office in 2016, was not involved in the negotiations, only House and Senate members were. Lawmakers will present him with the agreement later today.

Donald Bryson, president of the John Locke Foundation released a statement following the announcement:

“In what can only be deemed as the largest expansion of entitlements in state history, the Republican-majority legislature has decided to saddle North Carolina taxpayers with significant financial burdens and drive up healthcare wait times for our state’s neediest and most vulnerable citizens,” he said. “This course reversal on Medicaid Expansion is hugely disappointing. For years, the fiscally conservative legislature has stuck to sound economic principles. Their assertions that expansion will end if it becomes fiscally untenable is a pipe dream. Expanding entitlements while cutting taxes is a recipe to turn North Carolina from the national tax reform model to the disappointment of Kansas’s fiscal failures.
In addition, their failure to meaningfully address supply-side problems will only exacerbate the statewide healthcare shortage and drive up wait times and costs for the general public. Although the House and Senate’s agreement is purported to include some Certificate of Need reform, North Carolinians will remain short of access to care without a full CON repeal.”

This is a developing story. Follow @carolinajournal and Carolina Journal political reporter @alexbaltzegar on Twitter for more updates.

The post Medicaid Expansion agreement announced by legislative leaders first appeared on Carolina Journal.

 

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