(The Center Square) – Updated policies by hospitals and creation of the Medical Debt Relief Program by the former governor has led to 2.5 million North Carolinians being freed of $6.5 billion in medical debt.
First-term Gov. Josh Stein on Monday said, “I thank Governor Roy Cooper, DHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley and the hospitals that partnered with the state of North Carolina to make this life-changing news possible. I urge the General Assembly to keep this momentum going by coming back to the table and fully funding Medicaid.”
In a release dated July 1, 2024, Cooper said the program “will encourage hospitals to relieve a potential $4 billion” in existing medical debut for approximately 2 million low- and middle-income residents. Hospitals have conditions approved by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that allow them access to Medicaid funds.
All 99 eligible hospitals in the state signed on by the next month.
State Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai said, “Medical debt delays access to care and easing debt is a pivotal step forward to improving the health and well-being of those who carry the emotional stress and financial weight of high costs for medical care.”
Sangvai succeeded Kinsley with the change in administration.
Analysis of the state’s hospital systems – led by Atrium, Novant, UNC, Duke, Vidant (now ECU Health), Cone and WakeMed – showed record profits of $7.1 billion in cash and investments through taxpayer-funded relief during COVID-19 from 2019-21. Net profits in 2021 were $5.2 billion, according to a previous report by the North Carolina State Health Plan under the direction of two-term Republican Treasurer Dale Folwell.
