Medicaid expansion to begin soon in North Carolina as governor decides to let budget bill become law
Associated PressRALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Friday he would let the state budget bill that’s now reached his desk become law without his signature, opening the way for Medicaid coverage for 600,000 low-income adults, with some receiving the government health insurance soon. A Medicaid expansion law that Cooper signed in March said a state budget for this fiscal year still had to be enacted before coverage could be implemented. but on balance, it is in many respects the most significant budget we’ve seen in North Carolina.” The future of expansion being carried out in North Carolina was uncertain this week as GOP legislative leaders suggested moving the trigger mechanism to begin expansion away from the budget and into a standalone measure that would have dramatically expanded gambling in the state. North Carolina had been among 11 states that haven’t accepted expansion from the federal government before Cooper signed the expansion bill.