Richard Moore says Beverly Perdue's plan to insure parents is too expensive.
At a debate last week, he alluded to this argument, saying that he had a plan to provide health insurance for all North Carolina children, but not adults.
"I wish I could stand up here and say I've got it all figured out how to pay for health care for everybody," he said.
By contrast, Perdue has proposed phasing in coverage of adults up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, arguing it's the only way to cover uninsured children, including those who already qualify for the Medicaid or Health Choice plans.
Moore's campaign elaborated on the argument today. Campaign manager Jay Reiff told Dome Moore agrees the state should increase access to health care, but the focus should be on reducing costs.
"Perdue's plan to dramatically expand Medicaid is a very costly option," he wrote. "It would cost taxpayers more than $700 million for Perdue to fully deliver on this promise. When you add this price tag to Perdue's other promises so far, the total tab is well over $1 billion and counting. It begs the question: How is she going to pay for it all?"
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Re: Expanding Medicaid to Adults Costs $767 million a year
Eli:
That is simply not correct. As a member of the NCIOM task force I refer you to the following paragraph from the section of the report you cited on page 97:
"For approximately $100 million (in state and county funds), North Carolina could expand Medicaid to cover approximately 78,000 adults [to 200%fpl]. The federal government would contribute $170 million. The state would need to seek a waiver of traditional Medicaid rules in order to offer a more limited Medicaid benefit package that emphasizes primary care with limited hospital coverage and more extensive cost sharing.q These uninsured adults would be required to pay premiums, on a sliding-fee scale basis, along with other cost-sharing that would incentivize them to become more prudent purchasers of care."
Moore has a decent plan for kids - as I've said - and I don't think it serves him well to be distorting the facts like this on plans for adults. Why not put forward some proposals on adults of your own?
Adam