Medicaid expansion
Thousands face Medicaid whiplash in South Dakota and North Carolina
This story was first published by KFF Health News. Until recently, Jonathon Murray relied on Medicaid to pay for treatments for multiple health conditions, including chronic insomnia. Murray, a 20-year-old restaurant worker from the college town of Brookings, South Dakota, said that without his medication, he would stay awake for several nights in a row. […]
For a real second chance, Medicaid expansion must account for formerly incarcerated people
[April Barber Scales worked with Angie Weis Gammell to author this commentary.] April Barber Scales went to prison when she was only 15. On March 24, 2022, after serving thirty years, she received clemency from Governor Cooper and was released. She was reentering a far different world that she had never navigated as an adult. […]
Congresswoman Deborah Ross talks Medicaid, gun violence, energy policy, and the Trump indictment
State and federal lawmakers are now into some of the busiest days of their respective 2023 sessions, and as NC Newsline was was reminded once again in a conversation with Congresswoman Deborah Ross of North Carolina’s Second District, policy divisions on a host of key issues remain stark. On matters as diverse as gun violence, […]
Divide and conquer politics in action
It’s been more than a decade since then-North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis uttered his infamous, but accurate description of the strategy that he and his fellow Republicans would need in order to remain ascendant in state politics. In 2011 Tillis told an audience of supporters in western North Carolina that the key to GOP […]
Rep. Deb Butler discusses Medicaid expansion, the House budget, and sports wagering
State Representative Deb Butler of New Hanover County discusses Governor Cooper’s approval of legislation to expand the state’s Medicaid program and her hopes that her Republican colleagues won’t sabotage it by inserting poison pills into the state budget. Butler also weighs in on legislation that would bring 24/7 digital gambling to North Carolina.
NC Child director Erica Palmer Smith discusses Medicaid expansion, improving children’s well-being
NC Child executive director Erica Palmer Smith explains why the decision of Republican legislative leaders to finally embrace Medicaid expansion was the result of years of determined advocacy.
Dean Vincent Guilamo-Ramos of the Duke School of Nursing on NC’s shortage of primary care providers
North Carolina took a big and important step toward making Medicaid expansion a reality last week when Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill to make it the 40th state to take the plunge. As welcome as this news is, however, it’s important to point out that expansion will not be a magic overnight healthcare solution. […]
‘It’s just a prayer answered.’ Cassandra Brooks, a childcare center owner, advocated for Medicaid expansion for years.
Cassandra Brooks wept tears of joy and relief when she received a text from a friend saying Republican legislative leaders were announcing their agreement to expand Medicaid. “I just remember crying so hard,” she said. “Just broke down crying.” Brooks, who owns Little Believer’s Academy childcare centers in Garner and Clayton, for years has spoken […]
To work right, Medicaid expansion requires additional action
The North Carolina General Assembly’s recent expansion of Medicaid is a vital step to reducing the health inequities that produce a constellation of preventable harms. But North Carolina is not prepared to reap the full benefit of expanding Medicaid. We cannot in good conscience improve the affordability of care and not address the lack of […]
Let’s celebrate the Affordable Care Act anniversary, and finish the job of assuring healthcare for all
In the long struggle to win quality, affordable, equitable healthcare for everyone in our nation, there have been two large expansions of health insurance coverage beyond the private, employer-based insurance system established after the Second World War as a way to provide insurance coverage to veterans returning from their military service: the establishment of Medicaid […]
“A long, bumpy history”: North Carolina House gives final approval to Medicaid expansion. (w/video)
After more than a decade of contentious debates, it took the North Carolina House of Representatives less than two minutes on Thursday to pass Medicaid expansion. Rep. Donnie Lambeth (R-Forsyth) wasted little time in urging his colleagues to support the bill that will extend health insurance coverage to about 600,000 North Carolinians who currently fall […]