 |
|
to Medicaid
$$$ burden
The North Carolina General Assembly’s solution to the state’s onerous Medicaid reimbursement policy won’t save money for state taxpayers, but it will reduce the liability on poor counties, which have had to shoulder a disproportionate burden of the costs.
Because poor counties have more poor people, they have faced crippling costs. The burden kept getting worse every year.
Counties like Columbus and Robeson have to allocate as much as 30 percent of their property taxes for Medicaid reimbursements. Counties like Orange and Wake pay less than 5 percent. North Carolina is the last state to require counties to pay a share of Medicaid costs.
The General Assembly’s action helps break down one section of the wall that separates the haves from the have nots in North Carolina.
While Medicaid costs will escalate exponentially until something is done about health care on a national level, at least the state’s poorer counties won’t continue to be penalized for having to care for their poor.