The latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau included some frustrating information about North Carolina and it wasn’t just the state’s sluggish below the national average growth in household median income that the think tanks on the right have mistakenly trumpeted as good news. The data also showed that the percentage of people without health coverage in the state dropped …
Continue readingThe Obama administration is touting a new argument for why states like North Carolina should expand Medicaid. Federal researchers found in states that already have, the premiums people pay on the Obamacare exchanges are lower. The Affordable Care Act was designed to cover the poorest people through Medicaid expansion, but the U.S. Supreme Court made that optional for states. North …
Continue readingNew analysis finds Medicaid expansion brings down Marketplace rates – another benefit on top of gains for low-income individuals and state economies Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report showing that expanding Medicaid lowers Marketplace premiums by about 7 percent in those states. “Today’s report identifies yet another group that would gain if all …
Continue readingThe state on Monday stopped adding more children to a Medicaid program that pays for in-home nursing care and other benefits. The program is called Community Alternatives Program for Children, or the CAP/C waiver, which offers care to “medically fragile” children who need feeding tubes, use ventilators or who cannot learn basic activities such as dressing or bathing. CAP/C is …
Continue readingThe following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company. Imagine this. Someone enters an office where Gov. Pat McCrory, Senate President Protem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore are present. “Gentlemen, let’s look at the facts. North Carolinians are already sending their hard-earned federal tax dollars to help pay for Medicaid expansion in 31 other states and they do not have …
Continue readingA young woman brought her baby for a well child check. A family physician who cared for her and her child, I casually asked, “When is your next appointment with me?” “I can’t come in,” she said. “I’m not on Medicaid, and I can’t afford a visit.” Her child qualified for Medicaid but, with lower income limits for parents, she …
Continue readingA new report from NC Child funded by Community Catalyst and the Annie E. Casey Foundation focuses on North Carolina’s high infant mortality rate and how expanding Medicaid to low-income women could bring that rate down, especially for African-Americans and Hispanics. Read more continue reading
Continue readingRegarding Ned Barnett’s May 29 column “A caring doctor’s orders: Expand Medicaid”: I hope everyone and especially the governor and state legislators heard the message from Dr. Pradeep Arumugham of Kinston when he said we can save lives by expanding Medicaid in North Carolina. Read more
Continue readingFor many North Carolina residents, the Affordable Care Act isn’t a good deal or a bad deal. It’s the only deal. Read more
Continue readingDr. Pradeep Arumugham of Kinston is a heart doctor who doctors from the heart. The cardiologist takes whatever his uninsured patients can afford, and they all want to pay something. Recently he accepted payment in bundles of sweet potatoes. Read more
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