BY REP. TODD CARVER

Since October 1 I have received numerous emails about the Medicaid situation in the state and the impact it was having on families.

Therefore, a brief update seems to be in order to bring everyone up to date on the issue.

There was a change of course last week when Gov. Josh Stein ended his Medicaid reimbursement rate reduction. When the N.C. General Assembly did not appropriate the entire amount requested for Medicaid funding by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services ($819 million), Gov. Stein decided to cut the reimbursement rate to providers by 3 to 10 percent. This decision was made even though the Secretary of DHHS had said there was enough money to fully fund the program until April of 2026.

The N.C. General Assembly had authorized $600 million to pay the Medicaid bills. The State of North Carolina has no choice but to pay our bills. There is no such thing as deficit spending for state government. I have been told this has been the standard procedure for handling Medicaid funding in years past.

Gov. Stein’s decision had been challenged by numerous physician groups. This week it became apparent the court decisions were not going to break in the direction the governor had hoped. He decided to return the reimbursement rates to their original level retroactively. This had been the wrong decision from the beginning, and I was happy to see it reversed.

There is work to be done with the Medicaid reimbursement rates. The state needs to work to find more efficient methods of paying for the services paid for by this program. We simply cannot sustain reimbursements approaching $1 billion per year.

Both parties should work together to find solutions that make sense.

Rep. Todd Carver represents the 95th District in the N.C. House. Email him at todd.carver@ncleg.gov.