NC Medicaid on Budget Target For Third Consecutive Year

Leaders from the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) presented a number of reports and updates to the North Carolina General Assembly’s (NCGA) Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Medicaid (JLOC-Medicaid) this week.  One important report showed that NC Medicaid is currently $181 million below budget forecasts.  Legislators pointed out that, if this trend continues, it will be the third consecutive year that NC Medicaid has hit the budget target set by the NCGA.  This is welcome news after the tumultuous budgets of 2011, 2012 and 2013, which saw significant decreases in reimbursement rates for physicians and other providers in order to get Medicaid within budget.
The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) continues to work closely with DHHS and law-makers on the current Medicaid program as well as Medicaid reform.  A report on the waiver outlining ideas for how to reform Medicaid will be presented at the March meeting of the JLOC-Medicaid committee.