The North Carolina Senate passed HB 76 on March 15th by a 44-2 vote. Following Senate approval, the bill returns to the House for consideration of the Senate version of the bill on March 22nd. The Senate added a provision to lessen some of the Certificate-of-Need (CON) restrictions. The state CON laws require state health regulators to review and authorize new health care facilities and certain medical equipment. This can prevent the addition of unnecessary and duplicate services in a community. On March 2nd, state congressional leaders from each chamber, House speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) and Senate President pro tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) held a joint news conference to announce their mutual support for the bill before it was sent to the Senate. It is likely that the latest HB 76 version will pass the House vote. Then it can be sent to Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, a strong supporter of ME, for his signature.
If HB 76 is approved by both chambers, then this would make North Carolina the 40th state to expand Medicaid. North Carolina is now one of 11 states that have not expanded Medicaid as recommended in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and left to each state to decide in a subsequent Supreme Court ruling. Expanding Medicaid will enable six hundred thousand under-resourced North Carolinians to have access to health care including almost 17 thousand people from Buncombe County.
The bill is tied directly to the 2023-24 state budget. The budget must be signed by June 30th or funding for HB 76 will expire. It is projected that the budget will pass the legislature this summer.
Following the joint congressional leaders’ news conference, Governor Cooper said that their agreement “is a monumental step that will save lives and I commend the hard work that got us here.”
Listen to the full report below:
Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, healthyasheville@ashevillefm.org