North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai is cautiously optimistic about saving a groundbreaking Medicaid pilot that has provided food, housing support, and transportation to nearly 30,000 low-income residents.
During a visit to Western North Carolina this week, Sangvai said lawmakers are listening to calls to support the Healthy Opportunities Pilot program—or HOP—the first in the nation to use federal Medicaid dollars for nonmedical services that support health—such as produce prescriptions, rides to medical appointments, legal aid for housing disputes, and home repairs. The program is set to end July 1 unless funding is included in the state budget.
Sangvai stopped by several nonprofits in the region during his trip, including organizations that have been central to Hurricane Helene recovery efforts. Some, like a Hendersonville food pantry, offer services supported by the Healthy Opportunities Pilot. At Caja Solidaria, the nonprofit food pantry in Hendersonville, Sangvai said he is pushing lawmakers to fund the program.
“We are advocating for our elected leaders to reconsider how we're gonna pay for HOP. And I'm gonna be honest, they're listening to us,” he said Thursday.
In Western North Carolina, 18 counties and the Qualla Boundary participate in the Healthy Opportunities Pilot program.
Elizabeth Johnson and her family received air filters and vacuums from the program after her daughter was diagnosed with asthma. Her children enjoy picking out their food at the Caja Solidaria pantry, she said while filling a basket with fruits on Thursday.
“We've seen a lot of health benefits. For my husband and myself as well. Even though our daughter is the one that's the recipient, the whole family is benefiting,” Johnson said.
The Johnsons are one of more than 500 families benefiting from the program through Caja Solidaria alone. The pantry receives some of its food from Tommy Riley, who runs Riverview Farm in Henderson County.
“ I might've quit by now,” he told Sangvai at the event Thursday, citing the financial hardships of farming after the storm. “But seeing the impact that it's had on the community, and the joy from the people that receive it…it's just beautifully orchestrated.”
The pilot program has helped Caja Solidaria pay for Riley’s eggs and vegetables. Without the program, he said, he would lose a big part of his farm’s income.
“If Caja goes away, three employees go away,” he said.
Visit also highlighted mental health
Next door to Caja Solidaria, Sangvai visited another nonprofit that has seen an increase of requests for service since the storm.
Love and Respect is a “no barriers” shelter run by peer support specialists. The shelter is free to anyone in the community and can help with mental health care, enrolling in the Healthy Opportunities Pilot program as well as NC Medicaid enrollment and assistance.
”Although the storm has come and gone and things on the outside look like they may have returned to normal, there's still a lot to a lot of work to be done, especially in the mental health realm,” said Lexie Wilkins, the organization’s executive director said during the visit. “Those are the wounds and the scars that are not visible with the eye.”
The organization received money from the state’s Hope4NC program, a $12.4 million investment that supports crisis outreach in 25 counties affected by Hurricane Helene.
Since Sept. 28, 2024, Hope4NC has delivered more than 11,300 individual or group counseling services and supportive contacts, more than 200,000 assessments, referrals and media outreach contacts and answered more than 7,300 helpline calls.
“ We need to continue to do what we're doing,” he said. “We continue to focus on all the things we talked about, including the behavioral health infrastructure, and making sure individuals have access to mental health care when they need it.”
Sangvai said he is returning to Raleigh after his third visit to Western North Carolina to push for funding for mental health care along with programs like HOP.
