News

Regarding Ned Barnett’s May 29 column “A caring doctor’s orders: Expand Medicaid”: I hope everyone and especially the governor and state legislators heard the message from Dr. Pradeep Arumugham of Kinston when he said we can save lives by expanding Medicaid in North Carolina. Read more

For many North Carolina residents, the Affordable Care Act isn’t a good deal or a bad deal. It’s the only deal. Read more

Dr. Pradeep Arumugham of Kinston is a heart doctor who doctors from the heart. The cardiologist takes whatever his uninsured patients can afford, and they all want to pay something. Recently he accepted payment in bundles of sweet potatoes. Read more

With officials from the state Department of Health and Human Services wrapping up work on an overhaul of the state’s Medicaid program this week, lawmakers, physicians and patient advocates gathered at the General Assembly Wednesday to push for Medicaid expansion to be included in the state’s reform plan.With officials from the state Department of Health and Human Services wrapping up …

Roughly 8 percent of the 2.9 million Americans who exist in the “Medicaid gap” are in North Carolina, according to health advocates who planned to raise the issue at the General Assembly on Wednesday. Read more

Elizabeth City’s poor residents need expanded access to Medicaid, City Council agreed last week. In a unanimous vote, council approved a resolution Monday calling for Gov. Pat McCrory and state lawmakers to accept the expansion, a provision of the federal Affordable Care Act that they’ve rejected since 2013. Read more

State Rep. John Ager, D-Buncombe, introduced a bill this week to expand the state’s Medicaid program, but it appears the bill is more of a means to provoke conversation about the idea than something likely to become law in 2016. Read more

A bill submitted Tuesday in the N.C. House would expand the state Medicaid program to cover an additional 500,000 North Carolinians. However, because key Republican legislative leaders have said expanding the program is a non-starter, the chances are slim that the bill will emerge from a House committee during this short session. Read more

Pasquotank County commissioners narrowly backed a proposal Monday to ask Gov. Pat McCrory and the General Assembly to support the expansion of Medicaid in North Carolina. Read more

Ever since she was a child, Leslie Boyd has been passionate about social justice issues, from the civil rights movement to the women’s movement and beyond. As a reporter, she covered public policy throughout her career. Those years of activism came full circle in a very personal way when her son Mike — who was uninsured because of a pre-existing condition …