McCrory’s budget should aim higher

Gov. Pat McCrory’s proposed budget for Health and Human Services is good as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough.

The governor admirably wants $30 million, for example, focused on people with mental illness or substance abuse problems. “It’s an issue,” the governor says, “that’s been hidden in our emergency rooms, in our county jails and in our state prisons, and underneath bridges in North Carolina.”

He’s absolutely right. But given the state’s rebound from the Great Recession, McCrory and the General Assembly could invest more in helping those people, just as they could do more for education and for infrastructure. Unfortunately, Republicans have focused mainly on tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy and big business. Now the state government, with its revenues consciously reduced, doesn’t have the money to fully address the state’s neglected and growing needs.

The governor could have helped hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians if he and the General Assembly had agreed to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The federal government would have paid 100 percent of the cost for the first three years and no less than 90 percent thereafter. It should have been an easy decision. But the desire of Republican leaders to turn away any positive programs from the Obama administration ruled the day.

But back to the governor’s budget. He wants to add slots to a Medicaid program for disabled adults that will allow them to stay in their homes. That’s good, but, again, it’s a small fraction of the need.

He’d add 400 spots in the state’s pre-kindergarten program. That would cost $2 million out of a $20-billion-plus budget. The number in the increase should be much higher. The governor would also add 250 developmentally disabled people to a Medicaid program that will let them stay in their communities rather that go to institutions. One more time: good thinking, but inadequate commitment.

The administration concedes that the spending increases it proposes to various programs will fall well short of meeting the needs they address, but McCrory is seeking credit for having his heart in the right place. A governor has a greater obligation than good intentions.

The governor might be surprised at the public support he would receive if he called for a full response to the needs he acknowledges rather than proposing half-steps in the right direction.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 7:00 PM with the headline "McCrory’s budget should aim higher."