In NC, there’s a bipartisan appetite to expand Medicaid
The past year in North Carolina politics has shown us that there is an appetite for bipartisan cooperation. Together, legislative leaders stood together with Gov. Roy Cooper at countless economic development announcements, including Toyota recently and Apple last year. We forged a consensus on the budget for the first time in years, and before that ensured schools in North Carolina could safely reopen to keep kids in classrooms. Just a few weeks ago, House Speaker Tim Moore and I were able to work together and pass a North Carolina State House redistricting map with overwhelming support.
We know how to work together when we want to.
That is why I am optimistic about a bipartisan solution to another pressing issue in North Carolina: Expanding Medicaid.
North Carolina has a chance to expand Medicaid this session. In the bipartisan budget we passed last year, we compromised by ensuring that a joint committee, with members from the House and Senate, would meet to discuss the options available to us and how best to implement expansion. That committee has been meeting, and already the evidence in favor of expanding Medicaid has been compelling.
I represent Chatham County, one of the fastest growing areas in the state. But despite our quick growth, we still have issues that every rural part of the state contends with; broadband access, water quality and health care coverage, to name a few.
Last week, the North Carolina Rural Center presented to the joint committee on the impact of Medicaid expansion and how it specifically benefits our rural communities. Their findings should be a call to action for legislators to move on this issue soon.
According to the Rural Center’s presentation, North Carolinians who live in rural areas are disproportionately uninsured compared to urban and suburban parts of the state. With many of the other issues facing rural communities, that may not come as a surprise. But the solution to insuring folks in rural communities can also help alleviate some of the other concerns as well.
We should not think of Medicaid expansion as a health care issue alone. By expanding insurance and health care access to people across the state, we will also inject new life into their economies. The Rural Center calls Medicaid expansion “the economic solution North Carolina needs,” and I agree. Estimates suggest Medicaid expansion would create nearly 85,000 jobs in our state. It would be the biggest economic development announcement to date.
And unlike most economic development, the jobs from expansion would be spread across the state. The jobs would not be in health care alone, but would also include every aspect of our local businesses. Keeping a rural hospital open means keeping those employees paid, and they in turn spend money improving their homes, eating at restaurants and paying other folks for services. Everyone benefits through expansion.
It is clear that North Carolina needs Medicaid expansion. In the decade since this option was made available, most other states have taken the deal. None have decided to reverse course after expanding.
North Carolina remains one of a dozen states that still has yet to expand Medicaid, but this is the session to do it. We have shown more of a willingness to compromise than in recent years, and I believe there is an appetite to get this done for North Carolinians.
This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 4:00 PM with the headline "In NC, there’s a bipartisan appetite to expand Medicaid."