400K+ North Carolinians enrolled for Medicaid since expansion, Cooper says

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A year after Governor Roy Cooper signed into law a bill expanding Medicaid in North Carolina — something that was put into limbo during the prolonged dispute over the state budget last year — his office announced record enrollment numbers across the state.

According to Cooper’s office, more than 400,000 North Carolinians have enrolled through Medicaid expansion — a number that represents more than two-thirds of the 600,000 state officials expected to sign up over the next two years.

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Many of the new enrollees are younger people between the ages of 19 and 29 and work part-time or full-time, the governor’s office said. A high amount of those newly covered by Medicaid also live in rural communities, with Robeson County having the highest number of new enrollees per population.

“So many younger, working people desperately need affordable health insurance and Medicaid Expansion fills the bill for thousands of them and with people all the way through age 64,” Gov. Cooper said in the release. “This milestone and the speed at which we’ve reached it shows just how lifechanging Medicaid expansion is for our state and we will continue to get more eligible North Carolinians enrolled.”

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North Carolina has enrolled an average of more than a thousand people per day since it opened up on Dec. 1, a pace the governor’s office said is faster than other states that have also expanded Medicaid.

According to state officials, those who now have access to healthcare through the program have used it to fill more than 705,000 prescriptions for issues like heart problems and diabetes. More than $11.2 million in claims for dental services have also been covered since Dec. 1.

“We got it done and we got it done well!” North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley said in the release. “We continue to see how truly life changing access to health care is for all North Carolinians, as a growing number of people each day are able to see a doctor to address physical health, behavioral health, and dental care, get prescriptions filled, and much more.”

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