A UNC Health Southeastern physician said the state's Medicaid expansion plan would provide relief to struggling rural hospitals, Spectrum News reported March 10.
Robin Pearce, MD, a Lumberton, N.C.-based family practice physician, told the outlet she has worked in a rural part of the state for 25 years. She said that there are sometimes a higher percentage of uninsured patients in that setting, which puts a strain on hospitals' budgets.
The Medicaid expansion plan also calls for North Carolina to be added to the federal Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program, which offers states an opportunity to bring billions of dollars in federal funds to help hospitals, according to the report.
"I mean it is this type of funding that actually keeps rural health care open and it helps the hospitals to provide greater services," she said, according to the report. "Without funding like this, there have been hospital systems that have been on the verge of closing, there have been services that we’ve had to stop in some instances."
Expansion would not take effect until the state's budget is approved, which will likely happen in the summer.