A year since Medicaid expansion became law, North Carolinians signing up at 'breakneck pace'
North Carolina marked one year since Medicaid expansion was signed into law Wednesday.
The signing of the law on March 27, 2023, meant 600,000 North Carolinians would become eligible for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
Since enrollment began on Dec. 1, 2023, more than 398,000 people have enrolled.
Secretary of the State Department of Health and Human Services Kody Kinsley said the latest numbers put the start more than two-thirds of the way toward its two-year goal.
“We're moving at a breakneck pace,” Kinsley said. “Now part of that is because we had done a lot of investments in our technology that allowed us to put a lot of people on automatically.”
Kinsley estimates about 25% of people signing up for Medicaid are enrolling completely electronically.
“What's exciting is that people aren't just getting covered, they're getting care, nearly a half a million prescriptions have been filled 10s of millions of dollars for services rendered at a provider's office,” Kinsley said.
The latest numbers available through the NC Medicaid Expansion Enrollment Dashboard show numbers continue to increase in rural areas.
“Relative to the size of population, we are outpacing signups in our rural communities more than urban communities,” said Kinsley.
Kinsley said Robeson County has the highest percentage of adults signing up through the expansion.
Cassandra Brooks runs two daycare centers in Wake and Johnston counties.
She became an advocate for Medicaid expansion after one her employees, Brenda Pernell, passed way last spring.
“Some people just see stuff on paper or you just see statistics; this really hit home,” said Brooks.
Brooks said Brenda knew she had high blood pressure but couldn’t afford healthcare for regular visits.
“She was a mom of three children and had a husband, but they just couldn’t make it, even though they were working every day,” explained Brooks.
Pernell said Brooks eventually went to be checked out and was told she needed to have heart surgery the next day.
But before the surgery could happen, Pernell suffered a fatal stroke.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” said Brooks. “This North Carolinian died from a preventable condition because she did not have access to healthcare. That is not okay.”
Brooks said at that point she began to travel the state to advocate for expansion efforts to help expand care to those with lower incomes.
Pernell is one of those who would’ve qualified for healthcare coverage under the expansion.
Kinsley said most of the prescriptions being filled under the new expansion are for “seizures, asthma and other chronic conditions.”
He continued, “These are likely illnesses that these individuals were struggling with for a long time. They were probably, and many of us know these stories or have experienced them ourselves, finding coupons to try to cover them or asking a family member or a friend to pitch in.”
Kinsley said seeing how many people are now eligible gives him “peace.”
“I am so happy and I have such a peace that these families in North Carolina now have that same peace where they can just go to the pharmacy to get that filled,” he said.
As part of the expansion, North Carolina was granted a $1.6-billion signing bonus by the Biden administration.
Most of the money will be put toward various behavioral health services, outlined in Governor Cooper’s $1-billion investment roadmap.
Kinsley said the funding will be given to the state over the next two years.
“Everybody has a family member or friend that has experienced a substance use disorder issue or individual getting stuck in emergency department on any given night,” said Kinsley. “Three hundred and fifty people are stuck in an emergency department in need of psychiatric care.”
He continued, “Our mental health system had been unfunded in this state forever. Medicaid expansion changes that it gives more people access to the insurance they need to get those mental health services that they need. But, when you have a service that has been underfunded for so long, it takes some upstart investment to really get it onto its feet.”
