Medicaid Expansion Revisited

By Joel Gallagher

Tis the season of Medicaid expansion, that lovely time of the year when healthcare providers, socially conscious citizens, and just generally decent, good people get their hopes up that the NCGA will do the right thing and accept the federal money to pay for the expansion of healthcare coverage to those who are lost to the Coverage Gap (ie those who make too much to qualify for ACA subsidies, but do not fit the criteria for traditional Medicaid). We’ve endured this season year after year without any concrete movement towards healthcare coverage for our fellow North Carolinians.

This time feels different - over a billion dollars different in fact. The state is set to lose out on increased incentives if we don’t expand Medicaid (as nearly 40 states have already done) by the end of March. It’s sad that the NCGA (specifically the Republicans, as Democrats have been in the Medicaid Expansion camp since the ACA was passed) have to be bribed to do the right thing, but here we are. For the sake of the health of North Carolina, I hope the bribery works.