The following four charts demonstrate why NC Medicaid, far from being “broken” or worthy as a scapegoat for every unpopular budget decision made by the NC General Assembly, is containing costs better than any Medicaid program in the country while helping create better health for North Carolinians. The letter reproduced after the charts shows how disingenuous the “Medicaid is over budget” claim is by Governor McCrory and legislators.
1. NC Medicaid cost growth is very low. Just plotting some simple data from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that the average annual growth in NC’s Medicaid program has declined for the last twenty years and the program is now growing more slowly than the national average. Current annual cost growth for Medicaid in NC is actually the lowest in the nation and much lower than the national average:
