The North Carolina legislature is currently discussing a bill that would fill the gap in Medicaid coverage left behind by House Bill 125, the state’s approved 2025-27 budget.

On Aug. 6, H125 was signed into law, allocating $600 million for Medicaid in 2026 and 2027 as opposed to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ requested $819 million per year.

In a letter to service providers, NCDHHS said that in previous years when the state budget allocated $600 million per year to Medicaid, the remaining needed funds were made up through COVID-19 funding, but that the funding was no longer available.

The letter went on to say that in order to stay within the budget, NCDHHS would need to shave $319 million off of its operation costs and it planned to implement rate cuts for

See Full Page