CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Starting December 1, hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians will have access to health insurance coverage.
"Medicaid expansion is going to allow for 600,000 North Carolinians to be covered by insurance, which I know sounds like an unfathomable number," Nicholle Karim, executive director of policy development for the North Carolina Healthcare Association, said on WCNC's Flashpoint.
In March, a bipartisan group of lawmakers passed Medicaid expansion, capping a decade of debate over whether the closely politically divided state should accept the federal government's coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income adults. North Carolina was one of only 10 states in the U.S. that haven't adopted the expansion.
"Those in the coverage gap tend to be farmers, fishermen, veterans, you know, people who you may look at them and think, 'oh, gosh, they have to have health insurance, right?' But they are truly in that gap of people who do not," Karim said.
Medicaid expansion in North Carolina will increase the eligible population to adults aged 19-64 with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level on Oct. 1. The expansion gives healthcare coverage to single individuals making under $20,000 a year. A family of three earning under $34,000 combined will now be eligible. Beneficiaries will get care the same way as existing Medicaid beneficiaries and be eligible for the same comprehensive benefits and copays as other non-disabled adults in Medicaid.
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