Wake County Board of Commissioners has adopted a resolution, urging the North Carolina General Assembly to close the Medicaid coverage gap in our state as quickly as possible. The unanimous vote took place last night during the board’s regular meeting.
“In so many ways, we’re simply treading water right now,” said Sig Hutchinson, chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners. “If we can expand Medicaid coverage, 45,000 vulnerable residents in Wake County would qualify for health insurance and get life-changing access to medical care.”
During the meeting, Chair Hutchinson thanked the members of the N.C. Senate for passing a bill last week that would close the Medicaid coverage gap. The bill will now go before the N.C. House of Representatives.
“We want to reach out to our friends in the House and ask them to join their friends in the Senate, and pass Medicaid expansion,” Chair Hutchinson said.
The benefits of closing the Medicaid coverage gap include:
- Driving more than $1 billion in new business and healthcare activity in Wake County while creating an estimated 4,000 new jobs;
- Providing access to behavioral healthcare to address the opioid epidemic and help reduce overdoses and deaths; and
- Extending insurance coverage to an estimated 600,000 people across the state who are currently uninsured.
Federal funding would cover 90% of the costs of Medicaid expansion. The remainder would be funded by hospitals.
