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The North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the goals of a better-informed public and more effective, accountable, and responsive government. The Center identifies public policy issues facing North Carolina and enriches the dialogue among citizens, the media, and policymakers. Based on its research, the Center makes recommendations for improving the way government serves the people of this state. In all its efforts, the Center values reliable and objective research as a basis for analyzing public policy, independence from partisan bias and political ideology, the richness of the states diverse population, and a belief in the importance of citizen involvement in public life.

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MEDICAID IS FASTEST GROWING PROGRAM IN STATE BUDGET:
GROWTH WILL ACCELERATE AS STATE’S POPULATION AGES

January 29, 2009

            A new study by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research finds that as North Carolina’s older population doubles by 2030, the Medicaid program will consume an ever-greater portion of the state budget.  Medicaid provides health care for individuals with low incomes, long term care for the elderly, and services for people with disabilities.  According to recent estimates from the Fiscal Research Division of the N.C. General Assembly, Medicaid already is the fastest-growing program in the state budget.  In the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2009, the authorized state budget for Medicaid was $3.2 billion, or 15 percent of the total state budget – an increase of 9 percent from 2008.  And, just last week, N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler told legislators that Medicaid is expected to be $250 million over budget by June 2010, creating a problem for next year’s budget, which begins in July 2010. 

 

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