Gov. Cooper announces launch date for NC Medicaid expansion
There are currently 2.87 million Medicaid recipients in North Carolina.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WBTV/AP) – The statewide Medicaid expansion will launch on Dec. 1, giving more than 600,000 North Carolinians access to health care, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Monday.
It comes after Cooper announced Friday he would let the state budget bill coming to his desk become law without his signature, opening the way for Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income adults.
“Finally expanding Medicaid in North Carolina is a monumental achievement that will extend health insurance to people who need it,” Cooper said in a statement. “This means better health care, including those with mental health and substance use disorders, hope for rural hospitals struggling to stay open and billions of dollars for our economy. This action is long overdue, and we aren’t wasting a moment in beginning enrollment in North Carolina.”
A Medicaid expansion law that Cooper signed in March said that a state budget for this fiscal year still had to be enacted before coverage could be implemented.
Negotiations on that budget plan, which was supposed to take effect July 1, carried on throughout the summer.
There are currently 2.87 million Medicaid recipients in North Carolina. Adults who earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid but too little to receive even heavily subsidized private insurance would benefit from expansion. About 300,000 people could be enrolled automatically on the first day of expansion, Secretary Kody Kinsley has said.
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