North Carolina’s Effort to Relieve Medical Debt

CMS has approved North Carolina’s plan to incentivize hospitals by increasing Medicaid payments, aiming to relieve nearly $4 billion in medical debt for about 2 million people. This effort is part of a larger strategy to improve affordability of healthcare for North Carolinians and strengthen financial sustainability for hospitals. This move comes after North Carolina, identified as a state with high shares of adults with medical debt, implemented the ACA Medicaid expansion to help uninsured, low-income people access Medicaid.