Attorney General Josh Stein filed a friend-of-the-court brief to protect the provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that guarantees millions of Americans access to critical preventive care. As of 2020, more than 150 million people were enrolled in health insurance plans that covered preventive health care services at no cost to the patient.
In Washington, Republican lawmakers are insisting that any deal with the Biden administration to raise the federal debt ceiling be accompanied by stricter work requirements for such programs as cash welfare, nutrition assistance, and Medicaid. In Raleigh, Republican state senators tried to make work requirements a condition for expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, though the final deal fell short of what they’d hoped.
North Carolina lawmakers are reportedly considering some form of Medicaid expansion as part of a final budget deal with Gov. Roy Cooper that would also bring tax cuts and other free-market policy gains on key issues.
Former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley has formally announced she’s running for U.S. Senate on the Democratic side in hopes of replacing three-term Republican incumbent Richard Burr, who is retiring. The announcement was not unexpected, as Carolina Journal reported Beasley’s plans in February.
State lawmakers will give Gov. Roy Cooper’s budget director Charlie Perusse his first legislative grilling on the governor’s 2021-22 budget proposal Thursday morning at 8:30. Expect Perusse to push large raises for teachers, school support staff, and state employees.
Through its own regulations, North Carolina restricts the availability of medical services and, as a result, inflates the cost of those services. Rather than looking for ways to redistribute that inflated cost to taxpayers, state policymakers should try deflating it.
