News
Stein announces top spending priorities before the fiscal year ends
8+ hour, 9+ min ago (547+ words) Fiscal Policy Analyst, John Locke Foundation Last year, North Carolina was the only state expected to pass a budget that failed to do so. In fact, the General Assembly never even sent a budget proposal to Gov. Josh Stein's desk....
North Carolina Medicaid after the OBBB: Policy prescriptions
5+ day, 7+ hour ago (780+ words) The clock is ticking on North Carolina's Medicaid financing model Fiscal Policy Analyst, John Locke Foundation In a previous article, I documented how total Medicaid expenditures in North Carolina surged from $18.14 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2021 to $35.77 billion in FY…...
North Carolina designed a Medicaid program that it can’t afford
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (745+ words) State appropriations for Medicaid have increased by 34 percent in just two years Fiscal Policy Analyst, John Locke Foundation The North Carolina Medicaid program is on an unsustainable fiscal path. Data from state and national budget reports show that Medicaid expenditures…...
Health Benefit Mandates
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (213+ words) Former Director of Government Affairs, John Locke Foundation There are many opportunities for North Carolina lawmakers to help lower the cost of health insurance. One way is to re-examine the 57 health benefit mandates that state officials have passed into law…...
Health insurance subsidies don't address real problem
5+ mon, 4+ day ago (427+ words) James Capretta writes in The Dispatch about problems linked to federal health care subsidies. Providing more generous support for insurance enrollment is a politically convenient way to avoid the core problem, which is that health insurance is too expensive for…...
Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts: When asset protection becomes taxpayer exploitation
5+ mon, 3+ week ago (556+ words) Fiscal Policy Analyst, John Locke Foundation Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts (MAPTs) are increasingly being used by affluent families to shield wealth and shift the cost of long-term care onto taxpayers. Instead of drawing down their resources, households with substantial assets…...
Medicaid for millionaires
6+ mon, 2+ day ago (492+ words) Medicaid expansion gives asset-rich individuals free health care on your dime Fiscal Policy Analyst, John Locke Foundation When Medicaid was established in 1965, it was designed to pay for health care for society's most vulnerable members under strict eligibility requirements. Over…...
American debt problem approaching post-WWII levels
7+ mon, 3+ week ago (229+ words) Christopher Jacobs writes for the Federalist about a new warning involving the federal government's debt. The budget reconciliation measure Congress recently passed includes some important reforms designed to help reduce entitlement spending. But any realistic assessment of the nation's fiscal…...
State Health Plan to face nearly $1 billion shortfall by 2027
8+ mon, 1+ week ago (348+ words) New audit confirms that health plan for state employees and retirees is bleeding money Senior Vice President of Research, John Locke Foundation A new audit confirms the recent warnings made by state Treasurer Brad Briner that North Carolina's State Health…...