It’s been one year since North Carolina expanded eligibility for Medicaid. Almost 600,000 low-income adults have signed up, nearly achieving the state’s goal for new enrollees in half the expected time.
Speaking in Greenville on Wednesday, outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper heralded the expansion as one of his major achievements.
"As I reach the end of my time as governor, I hold close to my heart the mission of getting people healthier, and I knew that getting Medicaid expansion passed and signed into law was the most important thing that we could do to accomplish that," Cooper said.
Expanding eligibility for the lost-cost government health insurance was one of Cooper's major priorities when he took office in 2017.
The expansion covers 19 to 64-year-olds who couldn't afford private insurance but had incomes that were too high to qualify under previous guidelines.