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Advocates push for North Carolina to expand Medicaid

Expanding Medicaid in the state would add about 600,000 people to the health care program who don’t have access to coverage.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Legal advocates in Mecklenburg County are pushing for the state to expand Medicaid sooner, rather than later.

Douglas Sea, senior attorney and senior program manager at the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, said there’s currently a coverage gap in North Carolina that leaves thousands without access to health insurance. He says it's because their income is too high to qualify for Medicaid, but too low for coverage through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace.

Sea said expanding Medicaid in the state would add about 600,000 people to the health care program who don’t have access to coverage.

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“These people are literally too poor to get health coverage, and most of them are working,” he said. “About 65% of them, the studies show, are working and yet they can’t earn enough to get Obamacare, and they’re just left in this coverage gap.”

There are currently two bills on the table in the North Carolina General Assembly that could provide a pathway to expand Medicaid.

Earlier this month, state senators passed House Bill 149 with bipartisan support. The bill would give Medicaid coverage to adults who make too much money to be on Medicaid currently but don’t make enough to afford health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.

However, the bill faces an uphill battle in the state House of Representatives.

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State House Republicans proposed their own plan last week with Senate Bill 408. It would direct further study of the issue and instruct the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) to develop a Medicaid Modernization and Savings Plan to be presented for a committee vote in mid-December.

“This is a way to move forward with a plan that I think will actually help at the end of the day, without causing the state any financial hit,” said House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County.

Sea said he believes waiting until December would be too late to take action and cause more people to lose coverage.

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“This issue has been studied to death, and the other problem with the House bill is that if we don’t act immediately, we’re going to leave $1.7 billion on the table that would flow into North Carolina,” he added.

Sea said 38 other states have already expanded Medicaid.

Contact Kendall Morris at kmorris2@wcnc.com and follow her on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

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