About 600,000 North Carolinians have been waiting for Medicaid expansion for more than a decade. Backdoor wrangling over casinos could jeopardize it.
The North Carolina General Assembly voted to expand Medicaid in March, but they also tied it to the final adoption of a state budget.
Republicans, who hold a supermajority in both chambers, have been unable to come to an agreement on a budget for months, prompting Democrats to request they separate Medicaid from the budget process. Those calls were ignored. Until now.
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Republicans this week added the Medicaid expansion measure to a bill that would also expand the number of casinos operating in the state, an expansion many conservative religious leaders in the communities most directly affected do not want.
Why is this a big deal? Cardinal and Pine political correspondent Michael McElroy takes a look.
@cardinalandpine The North Carolina General Assembly voted to expand Medicaid in March, but they also tied it to the final adoption of a state budget. Republicans, who hold a supermajority in both chambers, have been unable to come to an agreement on a budget for months, prompting Democrats to request they separate Medicaid from the budget process. Those calls were ignored. Until now. Republicans this week added the Medicaid expansion measure to a bill that would also expand the number of casinos operating in the state, an expansion many conservative religious leaders in the communities most directly affected do not want. Why is this a big deal? Cardinal and Pine political correspondent Michael McElroy takes a look. #MedicaidExpansion #HealthJustice #CollectiveCare #HealthcareForAll #budget #northcarolina #uninsured #medicaid #govcooper
