Deep cuts to Medicaid: What Pres. Trump's proposed budget means for North Carolina

The White House's $4.1 trillion budget calls for deep cuts to social spending, a boost to military spending and a tax rate overhaul. Over the next week ABC11 is taking a look at what the proposed changes mean to our area.

Here's one way how the president's budget would affect North Carolina:

Cuts to Medicaid

President Trump is proposing more than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled. The cuts include figures in the House's repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act, which is now being reviewed by the Senate.

What it means to North Carolina: According to the NC Department of Health and Human Services, on average the state receives $8.2 billion in Medicaid funding yearly which provides benefits to nearly 2 million people. Half of those who receive Medicaid assistance in North Carolina are children. The state had to contribute $3.1 billion to the program and the president's proposed budget shifts more of the funding responsibility to the state level so North Carolina's contribution will increase.

Under the House's repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act, which the president's budget is assuming will be passed by the Senate, states that have expanded their Medicaid program will no longer receive funding by the federal government to cover low-income adults by 2020. Gov. Roy Cooper has expressed interest in expanding Medicaid coverage but Republican legislators are opposed.

"The federal budget proposal would harm millions of North Carolina families," a spokesman from NC DHHS told ABC11 via email. "The cuts target everything from health care for seniors and people with disabilities, to food assistance for children, to job training for North Carolinians looking to gain new skills. Nationally, the budget cuts Medicaid in half over the next 10 years. Medicaid in North Carolina provides coverage for over 2 million people, mostly children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Medicaid pays for more than half of the babies born in the state and pays for the care of most seniors in nursing homes. North Carolina delivers services efficiently with per capita costs below the national average, and this budget would cripple our ability to deliver lifesaving care to our most vulnerable."

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