Study Says 634,000 More North Carolinians Would Be Covered Under Medicaid Expansion

A new report says 634,000 more North Carolinians would gain health-care coverage if the state expanded Medicaid. 

The analysis was done by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust and the Cone Health  Foundation and carried out by George Washington University researchers.

The study looks at gains that would be made over the next three years.

The report determines that as well as providing the additional coverage, an expansion would create more than 37,000 jobs, and greatly contribute to local economies.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports that North Carolina is one of just 14 states that has not expanded Medicaid since the passage of the federal Affordable Care Act.

A compromise budget plan submitted this week by the Republican-led state legislature does not contain Medicaid expansion, and that omission may lead to a veto by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

Susan Shumaker, the president of Cone Health Foundation, says the report was commissioned earlier this year, and its release is unrelated to current budget negotiations.