The North Carolina state House of Representatives on Thursday morning approved expansion of the state Medicaid program that will make health insurance available to approximately 600,000 additional low-income residents.
The 87-to-24 vote by the Republican-majority chamber came a week after the state Senate, also under GOP control, voted down the bill by a wider margin. Now heading to Gov. Roy CooperThe Democrat who has championed Medicaid expansion since first taking office in 2016.
The architect of the law has once hoped all countries will take that step, pushing the eligibility income limit to above the poverty line so that millions more nationally will qualify for the program. But 2012 Supreme Court decision it has been easier for the country to refuse, and most countries where Republican officials have sway over the state government do just thatmention the so-called opposition Obamacare.
In those years, Medicaid expansion has come to more of these states, through voting initiative or a change of heart by some of the said Republican officials. That’s what happened in North Carolina, where key GOP leaders eventually endorsed the idea as good for the state’s economy and struggling rural hospitals, as well as helping working people without access to affordable coverage.
Cooper’s signing won’t be the last step in his expansion. The proposal does not take effect until — and unless — the governor and legislature agree on the next budget. Recent history includes several long standoffs, pitting the two against each other.
But the large voting margin and the shared commitment to the expansion of the two legislative leaders of the GOP and Cooper make it more likely that they will find a way to agree on the budget, so that the expansion falls apart after so much effort to pass.