Speaker Hall, NC House Health Chairs Slam Stein’s Politically Motivated Medicaid Cuts
Raleigh, NC — Today, North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall and the chamber’s Health Appropriations chairs strongly criticized Governor Josh Stein for threatening unnecessary Medicaid provider reimbursement rate cuts in a political stunt that jeopardizes North Carolinians’ access to health care.
Gov. Stein does not need to force these self-imposed cuts on his arbitrary October 1st deadline. Medicaid has sufficient funding to last into the new year, and, as Governor, he has the tools to provide additional financing immediately without legislative approval. Options include redirecting lapsed salary funding from NCDHHS and other agencies or utilizing $18 million through an intergovernmental transfer involving LME/MCOs.
The General Assembly has acted responsibly to ensure Medicaid remains stable and patients are protected. This year alone, lawmakers invested $600 million to sustain the program into 2026, and the House overwhelmingly passed another $192 million in Senate Bill 403 last week to fund the Medicaid rebase.
Last year, the legislature approved $377 million for the Medicaid rebase in November 2024, clear proof that Stein’s October 1st deadline is unfounded. Lawmakers will deliver additional Medicaid funding when necessary, but will not be forced into rubber-stamping Gov. Stein’s unproven rebase number.
NC House Speaker Destin Hall said, “Governor Stein’s arbitrary Medicaid cuts are unjustifiable, clearly intended to manufacture a crisis. The legislature has given funds to sustain Medicaid well into 2026. This breathtakingly cynical move ignores years of precedent where the rebase has been supplemented even later in the fiscal year.”
House Appropriations Senior Chair Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth) said, “By cutting Medicaid provider rates now, Gov. Stein is manufacturing a crisis. Our most vulnerable North Carolinians shouldn’t be punished for the sake of political theater.”
Health Appropriations Co-Chair Larry Potts (R-Davidson) said, “Gov. Stein is the only person threatening cuts today. It’s a callous political move, not a fiscal necessity, and North Carolina families will suffer because of it.”
Health Appropriations Co-Chair Timothy Reeder, MD (R-Pitt) said, “Gov. Stein’s Medicaid cuts are his to own. His decision to play politics will hurt both patients and providers across our state.”
Health Appropriations Co-Chair Donna White (R-Johnston) said, “Governor Stein has the tools to fund Medicaid. I hope that he will choose to address the needs of the indigent and IDD communities; they do not need to suffer!”
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