NC Lawmakers Vote on Full Medicaid Funding

0:00It's April 22nd. Welcome to Durham News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story. North Carolina lawmakers are gearing up for a big vote today on a house bill to fully fund Medicaid through the end of the fiscal year in June. The plan pumps in $319 million to handle surprise spikes in enrollment and health care costs that have stretched the budget. Republicans in both the House and Senate hammered out this deal and it drops the same day Governor Josh Stein unveiled his own budget calling for the full Medicaid cash infusion. State health folks say this money is crucial to keep services running without cuts. Tensions ran high last week during a marathon hearing where lawmakers grilled Attorney General Jeff Jackson and health secretary Cody Kinsley over, waste, fraud and abuse in the program. House Democrats are all in on full funding too, calling it their top health care must do, especially to safeguard expansion efforts. The bill packs and fixes like opening the door for state auditor, Dave Bollack, to dig into Medicaid books and tweaking the renewal process to cut down on issues.

1:06It's set to tighten things up without skimping on coverage. House kicks off at 1 p.m. Senate at 2 p.m. So eyes on Raleigh to see if this sales through and steadies the ship for fam is relying on it.