Budget negotiators in Raleigh have stripped out a provision that would have, ever so gingerly, begun the process of shifting funding responsibility for Medicaid off of North Carolina’s counties. That’s a good idea, so of course lawmakers aren’t going to do it.
Many county commissioners are outraged and frustrated. I particularly appreciate the comments of two commissioners from Iredell County:
?Why are we the only state that makes counties pay this?? asked Commissioner Marvin Norman. ?I never believed that we?d get it in the first place,? Norman said. ?I very seldom believe what the state says, until I get it in my hands.?
. . .?Here we go again,? [Commissioner Steve Johnson] said. ?This is just another program that rests on the backs of taxpayers.? Johnson said he thinks the Medicaid problem is another example of what he sees as the ?socialist welfare state.?
?They have plenty of money,? Johnson said. ?The state revenues are up. They just have a spending problem.?
