On Thursday, November 6th, Governor Josh Stein issued a proclamation calling the North Carolina General Assembly back into session on November 17th to address Medicaid funding. This comes after the State House and State Senate have yet to reach an agreement to approve a formal budget for the current fiscal year.
According to the Governor’s proclamation, North Carolina’s Medicaid program initially faced an $819 million shortfall due to rising healthcare costs, increased program usage, federal match rate adjustments, and underfunding. The General Assembly has allocated $500 million for Medicaid, but this has left a remaining $319 million gap, according to the Governor.
“We are desperate to restore the funding levels to where they were before, but by law we cannot spend money that we do not have, nor should we spend money that we do not have,” Stein said.
The session is scheduled to take place at 2:00 PM on November 17, but it is uncertain what, if any, action the State House and State Senate will take.
Our team at NC Family will continue to update you with information regarding the Executive Branch and the General Assembly as this story continues to develop.