This week marks the 15th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act though there are fears in North Carolina, it could be the last for more than 640,000 people.
“Despite widespread support for NC Medicaid, Congress is proposing massive cuts that will hurt North Carolina,” said Jay Ludlam, the deputy secretary for NC Medicaid.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Ludlam spoke Monday to a group with the NC Navigator Consortium, a group guiding people on Medicaid through the health care system. While it was a celebration of how long the ACA has been in effect, there’s a looming cloud for the future of those people at risk.
In 2023, North Carolina lawmakers approved an expansion to the Medicaid system to include people making up to 138% of the federal poverty level. For a family of three people, that’s nearly $37,000 per year.
However, to continue with this expansion, the federal government needs to pay at least 90% of the costs for expansion patients. If it dips below 90%, those people wouldn’t be eligible.
People like Jennifer Snowhite, a cancer survivor utilizing Medicaid.
“We made enough money to keep us ineligible for Medicaid, but not enough money to pay for private health insurance,” Snowhite said. “That gap is exactly what [the Affordable Care Act] was addressing. So I was thrilled that we could get covered.”
After identifying a lump in her breast, it grew from the size of a pea to the size of two golf balls within two months. As fast-moving as the tumors were, her medical coverage was faster.
A doctor saw Snowhite 24 hours after she noticed the mass. Then, a lumpectomy within a few days and a mastectomy two weeks later.
Now, some three years later, she’s cancer-free.
“If I didn’t have health care coverage, I would not have been seen in 24 hours,” Snowhite said.
Even if she had, the costs without insurance would have been far too high for her family to afford. Medicaid provided peace of mind so her family could focus on what mattered: Surviving.
“When you have a horrible diagnosis, it’s a hard enough thing to deal with that,” Snowhite said. “Just so many balls up in the air about how we navigate the situation where one thing I was not thinking about is, what if we lose our home? What if we go bankrupt?”
This coverage allowed for a fairytale ending to Snowhite’s story. It's an ending Ludlam fears will not be common if budget cuts are made.
“I’m concerned,” Ludlam said. “I think it’s a real possibility, but I don’t know that it’s a probability. It will require us to continue to work hard to carry the message about what is important about Medicaid and what is important about health in terms of keeping healthy individuals, healthy families and healthy communities. I think we can get that message out. I think legislators will do the right thing.”
On Monday, WRAL News reached out to U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis about how the federal budget could impact Medicaid in North Carolina. Tillis' spokesperson, Adam Webb, provided the following statement.
“As Congress looks at ways to improve Medicaid, Senator Tillis believes any proposals should be focused on addressing fraud, waste, and abuse, eliminating administrative burdens, and improving the delivery of care,” Webb wrote in part.