North Carolina’s top Republicans say lawmakers have reached a deal to close an estimated $319 million shortfall for the state’s Medicaid program.
House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger said Tuesday that votes would take place starting Wednesday.
“We’re in the process of working on a conference report that will fund the Medicaid rebase at $319 million, which is the number that I think is agreed with our nonpartisan staff and the governor’s office,” Berger said. “It will have some other provisions that hopefully will begin the process of trying to put some sort of constraints on how quickly Medicaid is growing.”
Lawmakers are still discussing funding for a planned children’s hospital in Apex, a partnership between UNC Health and Duke Health, and it won’t be included in a Medicaid bill, Hall and Berger said.
Budget talks are also continuing, with the biggest outstanding disagreements dealing with tax cuts, teacher pay, and the children’s hospital.
“On all of those issues, I would say some progress has been made,” Hall said. “Those are really the biggest three things.”