GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — It’s been one year since Medicaid was expanded in North Carolina.
Because of the change, more than 500,000 people in the state now receive Medicaid benefits they did not qualify for before the expansion.
The income requirements went up, which means people who made too much to qualify before might make the cut now. For a family of four, the income needs to be below $41,400 annually.
Across the state, the numbers were higher than anticipated. But in the Triad, they were almost spot on. Here is a look at the amount of new people enrolled through the expansion:
- Guilford County: 34,000
- Forsyth County: 22,000
- Davidson County: 10,000
- Randolph County: 9,000
- Alamance County: 8,000
One of those in Guilford County is Daisy Burke.
“It went pretty good. I didn’t have many problems,” Burke said. “It helped me a lot, especially not able to work anymore. It allowed me to get my medicine … I take a lot of heart medicine.”
Medicaid covers the cost of her prescriptions and her important trips to the doctor.
“I was able to find out that I ended up having deeper heart problems … If I didn’t have Medicaid, I do not believe … I would be here today,” Burke said.
The need is great. In Guilford County, the biggest increase for the expansion was in the youngest age group.
“The majority of the age group was 19 to 29, and I think we were kind of expecting more middle-aged … to be our main population, but it was actually 19 to 29,” Guilford County Health Benefits Program Manager Rhonda Kernodle said.
Kernodle and her team were flooded with applications for months.
“We struggled … We had a lot of new staff that we hired, so it was a matter of getting them trained and to where they can work independently, but we made it, and they had to get some overtime in there in order to do it but we got it done,” Kernodle said.
Guilford County hired more than 50 employees to cover the expansion applications.
“Initially, it didn’t feel like enough because the numbers were so high … Right now, we are OK,” Kernodle said.
The first four months were the busiest, and then it slowed down … Now, it’s picked back up as people re-enroll for next year.
If you need to re-enroll, you will get mail from the state and pay attention to the deadline. It all depends on when you enrolled last year, so it will be different for everyone.
