PHOTO: The debate over expanding Medicaid in North Carolina continues. Some top state lawmakers last week indicated they are not interested in expansion, but Gov. Pat McCrory recently met with President Barack Obama to discuss possible options. Photo courtesy of the NC Museum of History.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Despite opposition from some state lawmakers, Medicaid expansion is not off the table in North Carolina.



At the start of the 2015 legislative session last week, Senate Pres. Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) both dismissed the idea of expansion.



But Gov. Pat McCrory has said he would be open to the idea if federal officials allow the state to develop its own plan.



Nicole Dozier, co-director of the Health Access Coalition with the North Carolina Justice Center, says it's time for leaders to listen to the people.



"Lawmakers are elected to serve the people who entrust that leadership in them,” she points out. “The leadership is saying there's no case for it, they're not convinced, but the counties they come from there are people there who say they do need it."



Dozier adds Medicaid expansion would extend health insurance to nearly 500,000 people and would bring money into communities.



And if it had happened in 2014, she says more than 370 new jobs would have been created in Berger's district of Rockingham County, and more than 500 jobs in Moore's district of Cleveland County.



Opponents of expansion say it would still increase the state's already overrun Medicaid expenses, but Dozier argues the federal government would take on the bulk of the initial cost.



"Lawmakers say that the Medicaid system is broken, it's a big part of the budget and it is,” she says. “But the system isn't broken and any system can always be improved, and if you bring the federal dollars down you have the money to reform it."



Dozier points out the federal government has allowed flexibility in expansion.



The majority of the 26 states that accepted federal funds last year did so through a state plan amendment option, or the continuation of a waiver.



Dozier says she's heard from many people around the state who cannot afford health insurance, but need it for themselves and their families so they can stay healthy and live a productive life.



"For folks to not be eligible for help because they make too little who work every day, who are in construction, and in home health industry, and food and beverage,” she says. “Those are the stories that break my heart, the people who deserve access to health care."



At 24 percent, North Carolina has one of the highest rates of uninsured adults in the nation.





