NC agency reviewing Medicaid expansion options

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — North Carolina’s health secretary says her agency is collecting information for Gov. Pat McCrory to offer him possible options for expanding Medicaid coverage under the federal health care overhaul.

The Republican-led General Assembly and McCrory declined to accept expansion last year because they said the state Medicaid office faced large shortfalls and troubled operations. But Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Aldona Wos told a legislative oversight committee Wednesday agency financial and structural improvements make offering credible options doable.

Wos stressed it would be up to others to decide on expansion, most of which would be paid by the federal government for the near future. Expansion is designed for hundreds of thousands of uninsured people who make too much for traditional Medicaid but not enough for subsidized exchange plans.

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