It’s time for a fact check of North Carolina politics. This week, we’re looking at a claim about a health care reform bill passed by lawmakers unanimously over the summer and then signed by Gov. Josh Stein. The viral claim, posted on X last month and viewed more than a million times, says “North Carolina has just approved a law permitting foreign doctors to practice without completing U.S. training or licensing exams.” Paul Specht of WRAL joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry for more.
Marshall Terry: First, tell me more about this healthcare bill. What does it do exactly and why were lawmakers and the governor on board with it?
Paul Specht: It's a big bill and it proposes a number of programs, including one that aims to get more doctors into rural parts of the state. That is a big bipartisan effort because there are parts of our state where there are very few doctors. This bill is sort of an effort to get doctors in those areas. The sponsors of this bill say that existing incentives aren't working, which is why now they're creating this pathway for doctors from other countries to come practice here if they agree to go to those countries.
Terry: What are the requirements for foreign-trained doctors to practice in North Carolina?
Specht: They have to be legal as it relates to our U.S. immigration system. They have to be approved to work here. They have to have a license from another country that is either active or has been inactive for less than five years. There are a number of other things they can do to demonstrate what the bill calls their competence, and that could involve taking tests in the U.S. or showing their competency through other tests done outside the country.
Terry: This claim was posted on X by an account called “I Meme Therefore I Am." That sounds like it could be a joke account. Is it?
Specht: It can be. Although if we go back and look at this post on X, they're very serious about what they posted. There were more than 10,000 people who retweeted this, and there was some discussion and debate over this bill and whether or not it disenfranchises American doctors. The bill sponsors say that's not the goal. They say the idea is not to replace anyone. It's to put doctors in areas where American doctors so far have not been willing to go and settle down and practice.
Terry: Who else amplified this claim and why do you think it spread so widely?
Specht: It comes at a time when President Trump and others in Congress are talking about “Make America Great Again,” and they're trying to bring more jobs to Americans. There's this widespread political effort to help Americans get jobs and to block opportunities for others. Under that political environment, there are a lot of people upset by this, saying, ‘why are you giving jobs to foreigners when there are Americans who might be willing to take those jobs.’
Terry: How did you rate this claim?
Specht: We rated this claim mostly false. The post said that it wouldn't require doctors from foreign countries to take any U.S. exams. That's not true. The bill says to be eligible for this license to practice in rural North Carolina, you have to be eligible to be certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. Here's the important part. To be eligible under that commission, you have to take steps one and two of the United States Medical licensing exam. Now you don't have to complete step three; that's the final step. So there's an argument here that they don't have to complete a U.S. exam. But the North Carolina Medical Board told us these are very, very rigorous exams, and they're considered big hoops to jump through in their own right, each step, that is. That's why we rated this mostly false.
These fact checks are a collaboration between PolitiFact and WRAL and you can hear them Wednesdays on Morning Edition.
