North Carolina’s Medicaid program covers 1.7 million people at a cost of $14 billion per year.
The program for low-income and disabled residents has had a turbulent past. Last year, computer glitches created a long backlog of applications and payments for providers. And Medicaid has been a question mark in the budget, causing cost overruns for several years.
But health officials say the system is improving enough that the state could reconsider expanding Medicaid to half a million people who do not have health insurance.
On Monday, a joint subcommittee in the legislature recommended creating an independent board to run Medicaid, in order to cut costs and improve management.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Aldona Wos, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, and Robin Cummings, director of North Carolina's Medicaid program, about Medicaid and other health issues in North Carolina.