The Republican leaders rejected expanding Medicaid to cover an estimated 500,000 uninsured people in the state. The federal government would fully pay for the expanded coverage for the first few years and then cover 90% of the costs thereafter. Consultants hired by the state Department of Health and Human Services estimated that the extra Medicaid funds would add about $1.4 billion to the state’s economy and add about 23,000 jobs. By rejecting the Medicaid expansion, the state was required to return tens of millions of dollars in federal grant money it had already received to provide better health coverage for its residents. Thus, the federal taxes of North Carolina residents are sent to other states that did expand coverage. By rejecting Medicaid coverage, 500,000 low income families did not get health insurance coverage, 23,000 jobs were not created, millions of dollars (that could have been used to assist poor families) had to be returned to the federal government, and a good quality of life is being denied to hard working, low income families. Also, emergency room costs for treating the uninsured remain uncovered; the Rand Corporation estimated that states like North Carolina that did not expand Medicaid will spend more to reimburse hospitals for uncompensated health care than they would spend paying the 10% matching cost. The decision not to expand Medicaid really hurts working families in North Carolina.
Voting 2016 