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New Census data highlight rise in uninsured, the importance of Medicaid
The U.S. Census Bureau released new data Tuesday morning on income, poverty, and health coverage across the nation. The highlights include: For the first time since 2009, the number of people in the U.S. with health care coverage has decreased. While still far too many people are experiencing poverty, this is the first time the […]
NC’s flawed tax schemes fail to address state’s growing student debt crisis
North Carolina’s legislative leaders are pursuing a deeply flawed tax refund plan while leaving some of our state’s most important resources underfunded. Rather than investing the more than $600 million in things like school construction, hurricane rebuilding, or building healthier communities, legislators plan to issue checks of $125 per taxpayer. What’s worse is that those […]
Trump Administration aims to take food assistance away from 106,000 low-income North Carolinians
This week, the Trump administration announced a proposed rule change in the way the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, formally known as Food Stamps) is administered. This change would take food assistance away from 3.1 million people and threaten the school meals of more than 500,000 children. This includes 106,000 North Carolinians, nearly 38,000 of whom […]
Governor Cooper’s budget compromise is a reasonable way forward
This morning, Governor Cooper released a proposal seeking a compromise between the budget his office released earlier this year and the conference budget he vetoed last month. The compromise keeps nearly every major component of the General Assembly’s conference bill but includes a clean Medicaid expansion and eliminates tax cuts to corporations, using that revenue […]
Under flawed House health bill, hundreds of thousands will remain without health care
The NC General Assembly has scheduled House Bill 655 known as NC Health Care for Working Families for a committee hearing this morning. This extremely flawed attempt at closing the coverage gap contains harmful provisions such as work reporting requirements and premiums that have been proven to be ineffective in other states. In the case […]
Evidence from Arkansas: Medicaid work requirements don’t work
Last week, Governor Cooper vetoed the General Assembly’s conference budget, pointing to harmful corporate tax cuts, a failure to fully fund the needs of teachers and their classrooms, and a failure to include Medicaid Expansion. Both the Governor and Secretary of Health and Human Services Mandy Cohen have noted that any Medicaid Expansion bill will […]
Senate bill will take food assistance away from families while costing N.C. millions
Today, the North Carolina Senate will vote on a bill aimed at punishing parents who struggle to keep up with child support payments by taking away their food assistance. Senate Bill 551, the Child Support Cooperation Act, is based off of myths and stereotypes rather than an actual understanding of what families with low-incomes actually […]
In Medicaid, work requirement will punish those who need help the most
House Bill 655, the “NC Health Care for Working Families” is intended to close the coverage gap and provide health insurance to North Carolinians who previously did not have access. Unfortunately, this bill contains troubling provisions that will harm the very people legislators claim to help. Specifically, the work reporting requirements are an ill-informed and […]
GOP Medicaid bill takes a massive step in the wrong direction
Yesterday, legislators filed a new version of Medicaid expansion, House Bill 655, titled “NC Health Care for Working Families.” This bill imposes even harsher work compliance provisions on low-income and poor North Carolinians than previous versions. Specifically, the bill follows the work reporting requirements seen in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, formally known as […]
Federal court decision on Medicaid waivers at odds with N.C. General Assembly
Last week, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked Medicaid waivers submitted by Kentucky and Arkansas, ruling that the waivers were “arbitrary and capricious” and that they undercut the objective of the Medicaid program: providing “medical coverage to the needy.” The waivers, which had been approved by the Trump Administration, allowed the states to place […]
There’s no way to fix Medicaid work reporting requirements
The conversation about expanding Medicaid in North Carolina has been growing, but proposals to make the program less accessible and less efficient are still casting a shadow. Work-reporting requirements are an unnecessary and harmful barrier that would keep North Carolinians from accessing medical coverage. Evidence — from across the nation and from other programs like […]
Temporary re-opening of government is no solution
Last Friday afternoon, the President announced he would support a bill that would temporarily open the government until Feb. 15. Quickly following the announcement, both the House and Senate moved forward legislation to approve this measure and the President signed the bill late Friday evening. The temporary re-opening of government agencies will allow federal workers […]