Agenda - 11-19-2013 - 4b - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 RES-2013-095 Attachment 2 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Resolution Urging the North Carolina General Assembly and Governor McCrory to reconsider their decision not to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act to provide coverage for poor and low-income adults WHEREAS, an estimated 13 percent of Orange County residents (approximately 18,000 people) are uninsured; and WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the "ACA") expands health insurance coverage for poor and low-income adults by raising the threshold for Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the poverty line ($26,951 for a family of three); and WHEREAS, the federal government would pay almost the entire cost of expansion — 93 percent over the first nine years (2014-2022) according to estimates prepared by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office; and WHEREAS, the expansion of Medicaid would provide health insurance coverage to nearly 500,000 low-income residents of North Carolina and would save the State of North Carolina and the counties and municipalities therein substantial sums on uncompensated medical care for the uninsured; and WHEREAS, the expansion of Medicaid would bring billions in federal funds to the State and Orange County over a period of ten years and would create many new jobs in the health care sector in Orange County and elsewhere in the State; and WHEREAS, the 2012 Supreme Court Decision upholding the ACA modified the ACA and gave states the choice of whether to expand their Medicaid programs; and WHEREAS, the North Carolina General Assembly in February 2013 adopted legislation refusing to expand Medicaid coverage under the ACA; and WHEREAS, in Orange County an estimated 7,500 residents (or 42% of the uninsured) who would have qualified for Medicaid under the Federal expansion are now ineligible for Medicaid and Marketplace subsidies, leaving them uninsured; and WHEREAS, under the ACA residents of North Carolina who have incomes ranging from the poverty level up to four times that amount are eligible for federal tax credits to subsidize the purchase of private health insurance, but without the expansion of Medicaid those below the poverty level are ineligible to receive the tax credits, Medicaid or any other assistance with health insurance coverage; and WHEREAS, health insurance coverage rates for employers and individuals purchasing private health insurance coverage in North Carolina will likely rise as hospitals and health care providers throughout the State absorb the unreimbursed costs of providing health care to the uninsured poor and low-income adults who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid coverage and as those costs are shifted to private pay patients; and