North Carolina
North Carolina government is incentivizing hospitals to relieve patients of medical debt
North Carolina state government is seeking to rid potentially billions in medical debt from low- and middle-income residents by offering a financial carrot for hospitals to take unpaid bills off the books and to implement policies supporting future patients.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration unveiled Monday a plan it wants federal Medicaid regulators to approve that would allow roughly 100 hospitals that recently began receiving enhanced federal Medicaid reimbursement funds to get even more money.
But to qualify an acute-care, rural or university-connected hospital would have to voluntarily do away with patients’ medical debt going back ten years on current Medicaid enrollees — and on non-enrollees who make below certain incomes or whose debt exceeds 5% of their annual income.
Going forward, these hospitals also would have to help low- and middle-income patients — for example, those in a family of four making no more than $93,600 — by providing deep discounts on medical bills incurred. The hospitals would have to enroll people automatically in charity care programs and agree not to sell their debt to collectors or tell credit reporting agencies about unpaid bills. Interest rates on medical debt also would be capped.
Cooper said the plan has the potential to help 2 million people in the state get rid of $4 billion in debt, much of which hospitals are never going to recoup anyway.
“Large medical bills from sickness or injury can cripple the finances of North Carolinians, particularly those who are already struggling,” Cooper said in a news release. “Freeing people from medical debt can be life-changing for families, as well as boost the overall economic health of North Carolina.”
Other state and local governments have tapped into federal American Rescue Plan funds to help purchase and cancel residents’ debt for pennies on the dollar. North Carolina’s proposed initiative would be different by creating a long-term solution to debt, state Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley said.
“We really wanted to create a more sustainable path forward and not just be one-and-done, but to keep it going,” Kinsley said in an interview.
North Carolina legislators last year created the enhanced Medicaid reimbursement payments for hospitals — called the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program —alongside provisions that expanded Medicaid coverage in the state to working adults who couldn’t otherwise qualify for conventional Medicaid. More than 479,000 people already have enrolled for the expanded Medicaid offered since last December.
Cooper’s proposal doesn’t require a new state law and won’t cost the state any additional funds, but the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must approve the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program changes. Kinsley said he believes regulators will be “aggressive in their approval.” Cooper’s administration wraps up at year’s end, since he’s barred by term limits from reelection.
To sweeten the deal, the financial possibilities for hospitals in the debt program that agree to debt alterations appear rich. The state Department of Health and Human Services said hospitals that choose to participate would be eligible to share funds from a pot of up to $6.5 billion for next year. Those who don’t can share from $3.2 billion.
The effort also will depend on the willingness of the state’s hospitals to participate. Kinsley said he didn’t know where the North Carolina Healthcare Association — which lobbies for non-profit and for-profit hospitals — stands on the effort, and that it wouldn’t participate in a public announcement later Monday.
And the debt relief wouldn’t begin right away, with consumers benefitting in 2025 and 2026, according to state DHHS.
Republican State Treasurer Dale Folwell has questioned the commitment of the state’s largest nonprofit hospital systems to treat patients who are poor at free or reduced rates. The N.C. Healthcare Association has pushed back at Folwell, promoting their members’ charity-care efforts and other contributions to communities they serve.
A group called Undue Medical Debt that’s assisted other governments with cancelling medical debt, also would work on North Carolina’s effort, DHHS said.
Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday signed legislation that places an official definition of antisemitism into state law, which supporters say could help law enforcement determine whether someone should be charged under current hate crime prohibitions based on race, religion or nationality.
The measure came to Cooper’s desk after the Senate and House approved it in near-unanimous votes last week. The bipartisan backing followed recent heated nationwide campus protests over the Israel-Hamas War and supporters’ concerns that some comments by pro-Palestinian demonstrators had crossed the line into being antisemitic.
The act adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which is outlined as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” It also includes several examples of antisemitism, such as the denial of Jewish people’s right to self-determination and applying double standards to Israel’s actions.
In a statement Monday, Cooper said the now-enacted “SHALOM Act” addresses rising antisemitism.
“While we protect the right to free speech, this legislation helps to make our state a more welcoming, inclusive and safe place for everyone,” the Democratic governor said.
A coalition of civil liberties and multifaith groups opposed the legislation, saying it could stifle protesters’ otherwise free speech, particularly of words critical of Israel. Opponents demonstrated outside the governor’s mansion late last week urging that he veto the bill.
As of Monday afternoon, Cooper still had more than 20 bills on his desk sent to him by the General Assembly before lawmakers wrapped up their primary work session for the year. Cooper has a 10-day window on each bill to sign them into law or veto them. A bill becomes law if he takes no action within 10 days.
Featured photo via AP Photo/Bryan Anderson.
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North Carolina
North Carolina election board faces GOP-led federal investigation over parties’ ballot access
(The Center Square) – Actions of the state Board of Elections in North Carolina are being investigated by the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
This is after the board denied ballot access to three political parties, even though each exceeded the number of signatures required to qualify.
In a letter from the Judiciary Committee and the House Administration Committee, which is also investigating the decision, the lawmakers stated they are seeking more “documents and information” about the decision.
“The Committee on House Administration and the Committee on the Judiciary are concerned that the NCSBE’s decision was politically motivated and may have been done to influence the 2024 presidential election by limiting the candidates for which voters may cast their ballots,” wrote Jordan and Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisconsin.
Steil is chairman of the House Administration Committee.
The three parties support Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, and Randall Terry for the 2024 presidential race.
The parties each submitted more than the 13,865 votes required to appear on the ballot, according to records from the state’s Board of Elections.
While they were first denied access to the ballot last week, the committee said before the federal investigation was even open that they would reconsider the issue again in July.
The letter from the federal committees says the decision was made based on the “political motivations” of the members of the board, pointing out that the three Democrats on the board all voted against the petition requests.
“For example,” the letter says. “In its denial of one petition, the Democrat members voted to block the petition simply because the address of the party’s chairman was not up to date on the petition sheets.”
Both Republicans on the board voted in favor of approving the petition.
The federal committees were not the first to react negatively to the board’s decision, which faced widespread backlash.
The Libertarian Party of North Carolina released a statement supporting the petitions from the other three underdog parties, calling the decision “election interference.”
“The Libertarian Party of North Carolina (@LPNC) is deeply disappointed, though hardly surprised, with the North Carolina State Board of Elections (@NCSBE) decision yesterday to limit the choices of the people of North Carolina in keeping the We the People Party, the Constitution Party, and the Justice for All Party off the ballot in North Carolina,” it posted on X. “We resoundingly reject this partisan and anti-American decision that mocks the concept of democracy and destroys any pretense of representative government.”
If the decision is not reversed soon, the candidates will miss the deadline to appear on the ballot in November.
Because of this, the federal committees requested the board respond to their request by Monday so they can “conduct oversight” and avoid any undue “influence” or “sway” the board is attempting to have over the election in North Carolina.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina state senator who helped lead a powerful committee has resigned days after the General Assembly completed this year’s primary work session.
The resignation of Republican Sen. Jim Perry of Lenoir County was effective Tuesday, according to a letter he sent Monday to the Senate Principal Clerk’s Office.
Perry, who was a co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a majority whip, already was not seeking Senate reelection this fall. And he delivered a farewell address to his colleagues on the Senate floor last Thursday.
Perry was appointed to the Senate in early 2019, replacing the retiring Sen. Louis Pate. He’s represented Beaufort, Craven and Lenoir counties.
“It is a special privilege to serve in the North Carolina Senate,” Perry wrote Monday. “I am appreciative of those who sacrificed their time to help me to gain a little more knowledge on each day of this journey.”
Perry announced last December that he wouldn’t run, saying he couldn’t make the time commitment necessary to be an effective senator for another two-year term.
“I am entering a season of life where I will need more time to support those closest to me,” he said at the time.
Republican activists in Perry’s 2nd Senate District will choose someone to fill his seat for the remainder of his term through the end of the year. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is obliged by state law to appoint their choice.
Republican Bob Brinson and Democrat Charles Dudley already are running in November for the same Senate seat in the heavily GOP area, although it will be renamed the 3rd District.
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