The grand staircase at the NC Legislative Building (Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline)
The political standoff in Washington, D.C., may be over for now, but the impasse in Raleigh shows no signs of thawing.
Republican state House and Senate leaders announced late Thursday they will not heed Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s call to return to Raleigh to approve funding to patch a shortfall in the state’s Medicaid budget.
North Carolina health officials, including state Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai, say state lawmakers shorted the Medicaid program by around $319 million for the current fiscal year. In October, Sangvai began implementing Medicaid cuts of 3% to 10% to offset that deficit.
The cuts mean health care providers are receiving less money to care for the 3.1 million North Carolinians enrolled in the program. Primary care doctors, dentists, hospitalizations, community care and nursing homes are all dependent on the program’s funding. A Wake County judge this week put some of the cuts on hold.
On Nov. 6, Stein held a news conference to call an “extra” session, more commonly known as a special session, on Nov. 17. The state constitution gives the governor the power to summon state lawmakers back to Raleigh to deal with emergencies.
At that news conference, Stein said legislators had “failed North Carolina and the people of North Carolina” by not addressing the issue during their October session, which was largely focused on redrawing the state’s congressional districts.
In a joint letter to Stein Thursday, House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) and Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) said they would not convene a session on Nov. 17, and said Stein’s call for a special session is constitutionally invalid and politically motivated.
They noted that they’re already in session, which makes an extra session a moot point, and added that the constitution only allows the governor to call lawmakers back for “extraordinary” circumstances. They said the Medicaid shortfall does not qualify.
“If circumstances surrounding the Medicaid [shortfall] are in fact extraordinary, it is only in the context of your administration’s failure to address them,” the letter says. “Ultimately, your decision to cut reimbursement rates at a time when sufficient funding exists belongs to your administration alone.”
Stein responded to the letter on social media late Thursday, calling it the latest example of “dysfunction that has become the norm” for the General Assembly.
“The Republican majority has made the time to damage our democracy with their gerrymander,” Stein wrote. “But when it comes time to protect people’s health care? When it comes time to enact a comprehensive budget? They’re on vacation, and they’ll see us next year.”
Republican lawmakers contend that the Medicaid program has enough funding to continue without cuts through April, by which time they say they will have appropriated the additional funding needed to fund it for the rest of the fiscal year. They’re accusing Stein of cutting the program to damage them politically.
Stein and Sangvai say the program is required to have a balanced budget, and cannot operate on the promise of funding at a later time.
Both the House and Senate separately approved plans earlier this fall to patch the shortfall. In the House, one bill would have let the state dip into a reserve fund to delay cuts through the end of the year; another contains just language to fund Medicaid. The Senate’s proposal to fund the program also includes line items for rural health care and the N.C. Children’s hospital, items the House does not agree with. The two chambers have been deadlocked over the issue for months.
The legislature is next scheduled to meet in December.
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