Source: Axios
North Carolina Republican leaders have spent years ignoring the fact that over a half million low income people in this state lack health care coverage. However, it now looks like the General Assembly is finally introducing legislation that would expand Medicaid to working families.
According to Axios the legislation will:
- Expand Medicaid coverage to some 600,000 non-elderly, non-disabled adult North Carolinians. Currently, more than 400,000 are on the Medicaid rolls, North Carolina Health News reported.
- Give advanced practice registered nurses the authority to practice without physician oversight. A majority of both Democratic and Republican lawmakers supported a version of the legislation proposed in 2021, but it stalled amid pushback from physicians.
- Change requirements for health care providers applying to open facilities
- Set rules for medical billing transparency
- Define telehealth
This is far from a done deal. This bill faces an uphill battle as it makes its way through the General Assembly. Democratic Representative Dan Blue remains skeptical. “The House is saying they’re not going to take up Medicaid expansion,” Blue told Axios. “I believe them.”
