County officials lobby for Medicaid relief

Hundreds of county officials from across North Carolina convened on the Legislative Building on Wednesday, May 17, to lobby for relief from the county share of Medicaid. The daylong event was sponsored by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.

“This turnout shows how desperate the situation is,” said NCACC President Kitty Barnes, the chairman of the Catawba County Board of Commissioners. “The Medicaid burden is hindering many counties’ ability to provide adequate school facilities. More than 170,000 children in North Carolina attend school in mobile classrooms every day.”

North Carolina is the only state that requires counties to pay a fixed percentage of the state’s Medicaid share, even though the state and federal governments make all decisions regarding eligibility, services and reimbursement rates. This burden is forcing many counties to raise property taxes significantly or cut services to meet their mandate to provide schools. In 2005-06, 45 counties increased property taxes, including 19 counties that raised property taxes by at least 10 percent.

Several Medicaid relief bills have already been introduced in either the House or Senate. H1968, introduced May 11 by Reps. Edd Nye (Bladen), Thomas Wright (New Hanover), Bob England (Rutherford) and Bill Owens (Pasquotank), would use the $65 million in savings realized from the Medicare Part D program to cap county Medicaid costs for next year at 2005-06 levels ($30.39 million), and provide targeted relief to counties based on number of Medicaid eligibles ($34.61 million). Fifty members of the House have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.

S1209, introduced May 9 by Sens. William Purcell (Scotland) and Doug Berger (Franklin), would also use the $65 million in Medicare Part D savings to cap county costs and provide targeted relief. It would extend the cap to 2007-08, and establish a Legislative Study Commission to examine a permanent elimination of the county share. In addition to Sens. Purcell and Berger, 16 senators signed on as co-sponsors to the bill.

“We are pleased that so many legislators have signed on to these bills, especially considering the state’s $2.4 billion budget surplus,” said NCACC Executive Director David F. Thompson.

The amount of money each county would save in 2006-07 under these proposals is available online at www.ncacc.org/medicaidproposal_032806.html.

S1288, introduced May 10 by Sen. Don East (Surry), seeks permanent Medicaid relief via a four-year phaseout. Beginning July 1, the county share would be reduced from 15 percent to 11.25 percent. The county share would be reduced to 7.5 percent on July 1, 2007, then 3.75 percent on July 1, 2008. The state would pay the entire nonfederal share, excluding administrative costs, beginning July 1, 2009.