Topics Related to NC Medicaid

PRESS RELEASE — Today, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and the NC Department of Health and Human Services announced new actions leveraging the state’s Medicaid program that will encourage hospitals to relieve a potential $4 billion in existing medical debt for approximately two million low and middle-income North Carolinians and ease the burden of medical debt in the future.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is launching its Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Tailored Plans, a new kind of NC Medicaid Managed Care health plan, on Monday, July 1.

PRESS RELEASE – This year, North Carolina is celebrating 50 years of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC.

PRESS RELEASE — Tailored Plans are a new kind of NC Medicaid Managed Care health plan for approximately 210,000 beneficiaries with a serious mental illness, a serious emotional disturbance, a severe substance use disorder, an intellectual/developmental disability or a traumatic brain injury in North Carolina. They will cover doctor visits, prescription drugs and services for mental health, substance use, I/DD and traumatic brain injury in one plan. Eligible North Carolinians who are covered by NC Medicaid Direct will be covered by a Tailored Plan beginning July 1. The name of their Medicaid plan will change but the services covered remain the same. A bilingual toolkit with accessible resources is now available for people impacted by the transition to Tailored Plans.

PRESS RELEASE — Approximately 14,000 North Carolina veterans and their families are likely eligible for the state’s newly expanded Medicaid benefits. To ensure North Carolina veterans receive the support they are eligible for, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will help veterans who are newly eligible for Medicaid apply to Food and Nutrition Services (also known as food stamps or SNAP), a benefit program that helps pay for groceries.

PRESS RELEASE — As part of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ ongoing effort to respond to the rise in syphilis and congenital syphilis cases and increase access to treatment, NC Medicaid will now cover an additional treatment for syphilis and congenital syphilis, Extencilline. This new coverage is being added to address the ongoing national shortage of Penicillin G Benzathine (Bicillin L-A), the first-line treatment for syphilis. In response to this additional resource being offered for people in North Carolina, State Health Director and NCDHHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson released this statement:

PRESS RELEASE — Approximately 6,800 people in North Carolina have sickle cell disease, of which approximately 95% are Black or African American. This health disparity is paralleled at the national level with more than 100,000 people across the country battling this painful illness. New therapies offer an opportunity to provide long needed relief to these individuals and close long-standing disparities in our country.

PRESS RELEASE — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra joined Governor Roy Cooper and NC Health and Human Services Secretary Kody H. Kinsley in Raleigh Friday for a Medicaid expansion roundtable with beneficiaries and providers. Together they discussed the monumental impact Medicaid expansion is having for the more than 350,000 individuals who are now enrolled in the program since it launched a little more than two months ago. More than 600,000 people are now eligible and are expected to gain the critical physical and behavioral health care coverage they need over the next two years.

PRESS RELEASE — As of Feb. 1, 2024, 346,408 newly eligible North Carolinians are enrolled in Medicaid and now have access to comprehensive health care, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Medicaid Expansion Enrollment Dashboard. NCDHHS released an updated the dashboard today, and it includes enrollment data as of Feb. 1, 2024. This number is more than half of the anticipated 600,000 people who are newly eligible for coverage, expected to enroll in Medicaid expansion over the next two years.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released the request for proposal to hire the organization that will help manage the Children and Families Specialty Plan. The first-of-its-kind statewide health plan will ensure access to comprehensive physical and behavioral health services for Medicaid-enrolled children, youth and families served by the child welfare system. The CFSP is one initiative among many at work to improve youth behavioral health in North Carolina.