NC Medicaid projects running in black this year

GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — North Carolina’s Medicaid office is predicting a small budget surplus this fiscal year despite higher than expected spending in prescription drug use and continued enrollment growth for the state’s health insurance program for poor people.

An outside contractor serving as Medicaid finance director gave a forecast Tuesday to a General Assembly oversight committee. Rudy Dimmling says the forecast estimates $68 million more in receipts than expenditures by next summer. That’s small compared to the $3.7 billion the state budget set aside for Medicaid.

Dimmling cautioned a predicted surplus could evaporate due to many factors – like a bad flu season or more costs associated with Ebola. But running in the black would be welcome news to legislators who closed shortfalls of hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)