Dan Way reports for Carolina Journal:

A group of House Republicans is taking another whack at what they call an alternative to Medicaid expansion so uninsured North Carolina residents can obtain health coverage.

State Reps. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth; Josh Dobson, R-McDowell; Greg Murphy, R-Pitt; and Donna McDowell White, R-Johnston, held a news conference Tuesday, April 9, before they introduced House Bill 655, the N.C. Health Insurance for Working Families Act. It mirrors Carolina Cares legislation they proposed in the 2017-18 legislative session. The updated program would cost $4.7 billion and cover 543,000 people. It would launch in July 2020.

“It can be viewed as an insurance alternative for working, low-income individuals,” Lambeth said, noting Republicans typically have opposed Medicaid growth.

Not everyone is buying it.

“We haven’t had a chance to take a look at the bill yet, but at first glance it appears to have some of the same problems as Obamacare Medicaid expansion that concern us, namely relying on the federal government to fund 90 percent of it in perpetuity,” said Bill D’Elia, a spokesman for Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham.

Read more here.