General Assembly passes Medicaid rebase

(The Center Square) – For short session priorities, Medicaid is off the board and headed to the desk of first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein for signature.

Health Care Practitioner Transparency Act, as House Bill 696 is known, passed 112-3 in the House of Representatives late Tuesday afternoon and a little while later 45-3 in the Senate. Stein is expected to sign, though his full options are 10 days to sign, veto or allow to become law without his signature.

As lawmakers came back into short session, Medicaid was among the top five elements to be settled by the General Assembly. Tuesday marked Day 302 of the state’s biennium budget late for its lawfully mandated July 1 implementation.

This year’s rebase will get $319 million along with an aggressive approach to “rooting out Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse,” says a release from Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell. The funding keeps the program running through June 30.

“North Carolina’s Medicaid costs are growing at an unsustainable rate, and Governor Stein and his administration h...