rural health
Health and Human Services Sec. Kody Kinsley discusses the upcoming Dec. 1st expansion of Medicaid
In a special two-part conversation, NC Newsline chats with North Carolina state Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley about the upcoming December 1st expansion of Medicaid, how it will work, and what it will mean for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians.
Rose Hoban of NC Health News on a $30B budget heavy on policy, and what’s next for Medicaid
After months of delay, Republican legislative leaders pushed through a $30 billion state budget filled with new appropriations and policy in less than 48 hours. Since then, experts and observers have been trying to piece together and decipher the scores of new laws – many highly questionable and never seen before – that are now […]
Out of legislators’ sight, North Carolinians watched and waited for Medicaid expansion
Evita Bass, director of a childcare center in Hillsborough, lives with constant pain from three wisdom teeth that need to be pulled and back pain from scoliosis. Bass, 31, has not had health insurance since she was 26 and on her mother’s insurance. She has always made too much to qualify for Medicaid and too […]
For North Carolina: No state budget means no Medicaid expansion this fall
The failure of North Carolina’s legislature to finalize the state budget is profoundly affecting one of the most notable accomplishments of the 2023 session. The NC Department of Health and Human Services now says Medicaid expansion will not launch Oct. 1 as they had fervently hoped. While a bipartisan majority of legislators passed expansion (HB […]
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. […]
Hampered by opposition from doctors’ groups, nurse practitioners want to change state law to give them more freedom to treat patients
Cindy Cross was diagnosed with breast cancer about 15 years ago and found compassionate medical care when she first visited Michelle Taylor Skipper’s office in Laurinburg. Cross has been a patient of Skipper’s ever since, and her two adult daughters see her, too.
Dr. Mandy Cohen offers prescriptions for lifting rural health at Duke event
Former HHS secretary says expansion of Medicaid and broadband access are essential for North Carolina Asked to imagine the brightest picture for rural healthcare, Dr. Mandy Cohen described patient visits through telehealth, communities thinking ahead how to reconfigure hospitals in danger of closing, and more people with insurance.
Medicaid expansion would improve NC rural residents’ health and local economies, experts say
Patrick Woodie, president of the NC Rural Center, offered a robust endorsement of Medicaid expansion at a legislative committee meeting Tuesday, saying that more insured residents would lead to better physical health and improved community financial health. Rural North Carolinians are disproportionately uninsured compared to residents of the state’s suburban and urban counties, he said, […]
Game-changing one-dose vaccine could be in states’ hands shortly
WASHINGTON —States struggling to provide enough COVID-19 vaccines are likely just a few days away from a pivotal development in the vaccination race: the availability of a shot that requires only one dose. The game-changing Johnson & Johnson vaccine would differ from the two current shots by Pfizer and Moderna in several critical ways. By […]
COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in North Carolina’s rural counties
Nearly twice as many of the state’s new COVID-19 cases since September were in rural counties rather than urban or suburban counties, says a new report the state Department of Health and Human Services released Thursday. Most of the rural cases were in the white population and among people 49 years old and younger, the […]