A Cary woman, who wishes to remain anonymous but is receiving Medicaid benefits, is currently stressed about her financial situation and health.
"I have a condition, a lung condition, that there is no cure for. There is no treatment," said the recipient. "If I'm taking a deep breath, the air is escaping through my lungs."
She relies on Medicaid, a program for which funding is up in the air right now.
She said, "It is scary because I don't know if I'm going to continue (receiving benefits)."
The recipient says she's already pulling money out of her savings account to cover medication that Medicaid doesn't cover.
"It's not fun. It's not fun, and when I don't have the $600 to pay for that medicine, I'm struggling," she said.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released a new map showing the potential impact.
Wake County has the second-largest Medicaid enrollment in the state. More than 49,000 residents could lose coverage.
More than 28,000 people in Cumberland could be at a loss and more than 17,000 in Durham.
Yesterday, Governor Josh Stein urged lawmakers to pass a bill that would pull $190 million out of the Medicaid Contingency Reserve to partially fund the program.
The bill passed its third reading this afternoon in the House and will head to the Senate.
The Arc of North Carolina is a nonprofit that provides services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
CEO Lisa Poteat says roughly 95 percent of the 7,000 people receiving support are on Medicaid.
"No one has a cushion," said Poteat. "We have little to no room to absorb these kinds of cuts."
She fears the cuts could lead to a crush of people turning to emergency rooms to receive care.
"The legislature, the Governor, all of the elected officials - it is their job to represent the people and these are some of the most vulnerable people in our state that need this corrected," said Poteat. "They need to get in a room together, lock the door, figure this out and don't come out until its done."
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