Watch the video on the Governor’s work to usher in a new era of health care

RALEIGH - A new video released today highlights Governor Roy Cooper’s work to expand Medicaid and extend health care coverage to more than 600,000 North Carolinians. Governor Cooper was able to get the bill passed after a decade of Republican opposition to the program. The video features interviews with stakeholders and advocates and focuses on Cooper’s strategy to build a unique coalition that was able to help get expansion passed.

“We knew that the dream of a healthier North Carolina could become a reality and that’s why we spent years fighting for it,” said Governor Cooper. “Medicaid Expansion is the working families bill of the decade, and it will have a lasting impact on North Carolinians for generations to come.”

When Governor Cooper took office 8 years ago, he put forth his CEO mission statement. The Governor wanted a North Carolina where people are healthier and better educated, with more money in their pockets. Medicaid expansion moved the needle on all three. People need to be healthy in order to get educated and to work at good jobs to make money for their families.

To expand Medicaid, the Governor assembled a unique coalition of advocates who cared about this for different reasons, but who could influence their own legislators. This coalition included business leaders who needed healthy workers, rural county commissioners whose hospitals were on the edge of closing and tough on crime Republican sheriffs who saw the toll of mental illness and substance abuse and knew that so many people in their jails needed healthcare not handcuffs.

The Governor went from getting sued in his first few weeks in office by the Republican legislative leaders for trying to expand Medicaid to welcoming those same leaders to the mansion six years later to sign the Medicaid Expansion bill into law.

Medicaid Expansion launched on December 1, 2023. Last week, Governor Cooper announced that more than 600,000 people have enrolled in Medicaid Expansion in the first year of implementation, in half the time that was first projected.

State partners, community-based organizations, local advocates and other trusted messengers teamed up to support NCDHHS’ NC Medicaid for More People campaign and continued the momentum to get people enrolled in health care. These efforts included hosting NC Medicaid events, attending community fairs and expos, sharing bilingual presentations and toolkits, coordinating resources and partnerships, and other innovative approaches to spread the word about expansion and increase enrollment.

In the past year:

• 4.15 million prescriptions were filled by Medicaid Expansion enrollees for heart health, diabetes, seizures and other illnesses.
• $62.2 million in claims for dental services have been covered by Medicaid for the expansion population.
• 217,183+ members of rural communities, or more than one in three of all newly eligible people, gained access to health coverage through Medicaid.

NCDHHS’ Medicaid Expansion webpage continues to provide information on eligibility, how to apply and where to get support.

To learn more about Medicaid Expansion, find resources and get involved, visit Medicaid.nc.gov.

Watch the Governor’s video on Medicaid expansion here.