NC Medicaid: A Lifeline Under Attack

An update on potential Medicaid cuts

NC Medicaid serves as a lifeline for older adults needing long-term care, children, people with disabilities, and pregnant women, as well as people who are self-employed or working in jobs that pay low wages without health insurance benefits. It is outrageous and misguided that the U.S. House passed a framework that outlines plans to chop and gut this vital insurance program.  

The good news is that the House is obviously feeling the pressure, as U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson recently said that some of the most egregious Medicaid cuts are “off the table.” Public opposition is working, but these middling reassurances prove that we must remain vigilant in holding Congress accountable to the people they serve. 

Medicaid allows our small farmers, veterans, child care providers, and many other North Carolinians to get lifesaving and life-changing health coverage. They can seek preventive care, treat health conditions, and get medical or mental health care during a crisis or natural disaster like Hurricane Helene.  

Cuts undermine the will of the people and state government

Medicaid expansion passed with broad bipartisan support in North Carolina, and our state was able to enroll over 615,000 North Carolinians in just one year. Our Congressional delegation should be doing everything in their power to protect and preserve one of the most impactful policy achievements passed by our duly elected legislators at the NC General Assembly. 

Equally worrisome is the unnecessarily rushed timeline for these cuts, which lacks transparency and opportunities for public comment from real people, who are not numbers on a spreadsheet.  

Moreover, making indiscriminate cuts will actually raise health costs in North Carolina (already the highest in the country) even more, placing a strain on our state budget, hurting our rural hospitals, and further burdening families struggling to pay for everyday essentials like housing and food. These cuts will be detrimental—even life threatening—to the three million North Carolinians who have Medicaid coverage and have ripple effects on real people, community health centers, and rural hospitals.  

A call to action

We oppose any cuts or any changes to how Medicaid is financed. Funding schemes like per capita caps, block grants, changes to the federal match, or costly, unnecessary work reporting requirements will result in people losing coverage and are fiscally irresponsible. 

We urge all North Carolinians to join us in this fight. 

To help you, we have created a call-in toolkit and resource folder that gives you all the information you need to let our U.S. senators and representatives know that any cuts to Medicaid are unacceptable and will harm not only our people, but also our state budget. We know it can seem intimidating to call elected officials, but please remember that they work for us, and they need to hear from us, especially now.