RALEIGH, NC – July, 2023 – The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCHHS) can accelerate the Medicaid expansion start date to as soon as 30 days after the General Assembly agrees upon a budget. A compromise agreement has been reached between the NCHHS and the federal agency Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The implementation period will be reduced from between 90-120 days to 30 days so that enrollment can begin sooner.
A Medicaid expansion bill was passed by the General Assembly and was signed by the Governor on March 27th. However, the bill is tied directly to agreeing upon the 2023-24 state budget. The Republican-dominated House and Senate have been negotiating over the budget for months and no deal has been reached so far. Therefore, the budget will have to be enacted by September 1st for ME to begin on October 1st unless the General Assembly decouples expansion from the budget. If either occurs after this date, then the next start date will be no sooner than December 1st.
Kody Kinsley, the NCHHS secretary, said “Moving forward now sets the department on a path to be able to get health care coverage to thousands of people as soon as possible.”
Medicaid expansion will increase the eligible population of adults ages 19-64 who have incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level while bringing billions of federal aid dollars to the state. Six hundred thousand additional under-resourced North Carolinians will gain access to health care, including almost 17 thousand people from Buncombe County. The HHS estimates that 9 thousand North Carolinians a month are losing their Medicaid coverage who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid expansion.
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Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]
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