North Carolina Governor Signs Medicaid Expansion Bill

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed a Medicaid expansion bill, House Bill 76, on Monday.

The bill could make Medicaid coverage available to about 600,000 adults ages 18 through 64 with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level, officials estimate.

North Carolina has become the 40th state to start the process of using Medicaid coverage expansion subsidies available through the Affordable Care Act.

What It Means

Clients going through difficult times will have an easier time qualifying for government-provided health coverage, and they may be less interested in ordinary individual health coverage.

Even if few clients are in that situation, clients might need information about how to get friends, adult children or service workers, such as housekeepers and babysitters, covered.

The Numbers

About 1.1 million of North Carolina’s 10 million residents are uninsured, and 2.8 million have Medicaid coverage, according to state data.

Roughly 801,000 have coverage purchased through HealthCare.gov.

If state projections are correct, the total number of Medicaid enrollees in the state could increase to 3.5 million.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, a nonprofit carrier that covers 4.4 million North Carolina residents, has supported Medicaid expansion efforts.

Pictured: The North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo: Wollwerth Imagery/Adobe Stock)