Health

National and local LGBTQ+ groups have sued North Carolina over the ban on gender affirming care for minors passed by Republicans earlier this year. The lawsuit was filed in federal court by Lambda Legal and several other groups on the grounds that House Bill 808 violates the 14th Amendment by discriminating against transgender individuals and infringes on the rights of parents to make medical decisions with their children, according to the News & Observer. 

After being held up for months by state Republican lawmakers’ protracted dispute over the state budget, The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has gotten the final federal approval to launch Medicaid Expansion.

The latest North Carolina state budget included massive investments in mental health services, in part thanks to federal Covid relief funds, as well as the $1.4 billion sign-on bonus the state received for expanding medicaid. Legislators worked closely with Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley and visited patients and providers across the state for their input, according to NC Health News.

According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, overdose deaths in the state increased by 22% in 2021, to more than 4,000. For 2022, data from the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner showed a 7% increase in suspected overdose deaths.

The death of a migrant worker from Mexico at a Nash County farm on a near 100-degree day in early September is under investigation by the North Carolina Department of Labor – and it has a connection to a Republican state senator and her family.

NCGOP’s extremist policies on abortion access are driving out hundreds of much-needed medical professionals from the state. Currently, more than 90% of counties are considered “primary care shortage areas”, and over a quarter of counties lack a single OB-GYN, according to The News & Observer.