Video: NC Republicans could fully fund Medicaid if they wanted to, NC Dems says

By Michael McElroy, Staff Reports

December 9, 2025

NC Rep. Phil Rubin, a Wake County Democrat, spoke with Cardinal & Pine last month as lawmakers had a chance to return to session and do something about Medicaid funding.

Both the NC House and Senate have passed unanimous bills that would fill a Medicaid funding gap and end the state’s cuts to Medicaid providers. But disagreements between Destin Hall, the Republican House speaker, and Phil Berger, the Senate majority leader, derailed passage.

NC Rep. Phil Rubin, a Wake County Democrat, spoke with Cardinal & Pine last month as lawmakers had a chance to return to session and do something about the problem. Democrats showed up. Republicans did not.

Josh Stein demanded NC Republicans fund Medicaid. You can’t make us, they said.

Authors

Michael McElroy

Michael McElroy is Cardinal & Pine's political correspondent. He is an adjunct instructor at UNC-Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media, and a former editor at The New York Times.

View all posts
Staff Reports

View all posts

CATEGORIES: POLITICS VIDEO

Support Our Cause

Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for North Carolinians and our future.

Since day one, our goal here at Cardinal & Pine has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of North Carolina families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.