North Carolina Medicaid expansion set to launch Dec. 1

Medicaid expansion will launch in North Carolina on Dec. 1, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) announced Monday, marking the culmination of a long-fought campaign from Cooper and health groups.

North Carolina Republicans refused for more than 10 years to accept federal funding to help expand coverage to low-income people. There are now only 10 holdout states remaining.

According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, the expansion will allow about 600,000 North Carol...

Judge strikes down Florida Medicaid policy excluding gender-affirming care

A Florida rule excluding gender-affirming health care from Medicaid coverage is unlawful and unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, adding that the policy, which was enacted last year under the administration of Republican Gov. and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, is based on politics rather than medicine.

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), which controls most of the state’s Medicaid program, in August adopted a rule barring trans...

What a default could mean for Medicaid and other federal benefits

With the White House and House leadership less than two weeks away from a default deadline on the country’s debt, anxiety is rising over the potential impact on federal programs such as Medicaid and the beneficiaries who depend on it.

Among the sticking points is Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) push for work requirements to be added to federal assistance programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

McCarthy told reporters before a ...

North Carolina state legislature passes Medicaid expansion

The North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill Thursday to expand Medicaid eligibility to include nearly all adults who make less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level, moving the state closer to becoming the 40th state to adopt Medicaid expansions provided through the Affordable Care Act.

The North Carolina House of Representative passed the bill on Thursday in a 87-24 vote. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) has already stated he will sign the bill once it reaches h...

These 10 states have not expanded Medicaid

State lawmakers in North Carolina reached a deal Thursday on Medicaid expansion, ending a decadelong fight in the state over whether to accept federal funding to expand the program that will provide health coverage to low-income adults.

The agreement in North Carolina on the 13th anniversary of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, which offered the Medicaid expansion to states, knocks one more state off the list of Medicaid expansion holdouts, as an overwhelming majority of stat...

White House budget leans into drug pricing, ObamaCare expansion

President Biden's budget proposal focuses heavily on expanding access to health care and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

In an effort to extend the life of Medicare's hospital trust fund, the budget proposal would increase the number of drugs that can be negotiated, and allow those negotiations to begin sooner. 

The plan builds off the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which granted Medicare the power to negotiate the prices of up to 20 drugs each year — though...

Social Security, Medicare clash comes down to what constitutes a ‘cut’

The coming battles over the nation’s safety-net programs are beginning with an early clash over a thorny question of semantics: What constitutes a cut?

In the eyes of many Democrats, any change to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security that erodes benefits provided under current law would be considered a cut — and therefore stands as a nonstarter with liberals as Congress seeks ways to rein in deficit spending. 

Across the aisle, Republicans have long promoted a ...

Democrats vow fierce fight if GOP cuts Medicaid

House Democrats are vowing a fierce fight over Medicaid as Republicans eye plans to curb spending for the low-income health care program in the name of deficit reduction.

Joining President Biden, the Democrats are warning that Medicaid cuts would disproportionately impact the same vulnerable populations least able to absorb the hit, including low-income kids, seniors and the disabled, who together represent almost three-quarters of Medicaid spending.  

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