A panel of health experts, officials, and affected North Carolinians convened by Rep. Deborah Ross discuss the impact of proposed cuts to Medicaid on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar)
A panel of health care experts, elected officials, and affected North Carolinians warned of dire consequences should Congress cut Medicaid funding, a near certainty under a budget resolution passed by House Republicans that calls for roughly $2 trillion in spending cuts.
Convened on Friday morning by Rep. Deborah Ross (NC-02) at Raleigh’s NeighborHealth Center, the round table discussion featured stories of lives saved by Medicaid, the federal-state health coverage partnership that supports low-income individuals and people with disabilities. The talk came days after a plan to slash government spending narrowly cleared the U.S. House of Representatives, which observers have said would likely require significant reductions in Medicaid funding.
Ross, a Democrat representing Wake County, called proposals to slash Medicaid spending “penny wise and pound foolish,” arguing that Republicans’ proposal would “put families in medical debt” while extending substantial tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. Those cuts, she said, would result in more strain on the health care system by discouraging people from seeking treatment until their conditions grow much worse.
“The money will then go to people who are not investing in the health care system, will take health care away from people who need health care, and create a health care crisis that will cost our communities even more money,” Ross said. “It is the worst way to deal with public policy.”
“We’re operating on razor thin margins. In fact, we had to do a 20% staff reduction about three weeks ago,” said Daniel Lipparelli, NeighborHealth’s CEO. “Something like this would certainly jeopardize our health center — I can say that with confidence — along with other health centers in the state who are a month or less away from closing.”
North Carolina is one of nine states with “trigger laws” reversing Medicaid expansion if federal matching funds for the program drop below 90% of costs for those covered under the expansion. Nearly 630,000 North Carolinians signed up under the expanded program after a bipartisan bill expanded the program in 2023 to cover adults making up to 138% of the federal poverty line.
Brendan Riley of the North Carolina Community Health Care Association said health care costs will rise for everyone should Medicaid expansion be reversed, not just those who are covered by the program. Nonprofit health centers like NeighborHealth aimed at low-income residents and underserved communities would not be able to keep up their current services, Riley said, ultimately landing more patients in intensive and emergency care.
“Without Medicaid — and without Medicaid expansion in particular — we could not do what we do today. We could not save money for the health care system, for the taxpayers, keeping people out of hospitals and emergency rooms by keeping them healthy,” Riley said.
Cuts to Medicaid could hurt rural North Carolinians the most. Nearly 40% of the program’s beneficiaries in the state live in rural counties, according to NC Health News, and hospitals in those areas depend heavily on Medicaid funding — likely leading to closures should the program face significant cuts.
Patrick Woodie, president and CEO of the NC Rural Center, said about more than 1.2 million rural North Carolinians are covered by Medicaid
“We lost 12 rural hospitals in North Carolina since 2005, we have seven more that are considered extremely vulnerable. We have seen a great deal of stabilization of those hospitals since Medicaid expansion took effect,” Woodie said. “Cuts sound easy — it may be an easy decision for some — but what comes after that?”
Also included in the panel were North Carolinians supported by Medicaid as well as family members of those who rely on the program. Jessica Connelly said without Medicaid, her three-year-old son would not be able to live at home with her family after being born with multiple complex health conditions.
“He went home on a ventilator with a [tracheostomy] and it was 24/7 life support. When we left the ICU after a combined stay of over half a year, it was, ‘what sort of skilled nursing facility should we go to?’” Connelly said. “That is not a conversation you have for your child. Your child lives in your house. You bring your child home.”
Because of Medicaid, her son was able to receive in-home health care and now, is about to start preschool after no longer requiring a ventilator or tracheal tube — improvements she said would not have occurred had he been placed in a nursing facility without the presence of his family. “Don’t take away things from children,” she asked lawmakers.
Teresa Johnson said she had to stop working for months to take care of her adult son after he experienced a brain injury. Being able to get care for him at home was an enormous relief. “My son knows he’s at home,” she said. “I don’t know what would happen if we didn’t have home health through Medicaid.”