Empowering citizens

According to the John Locke Foundation* contributor Jon Guze, Certificate of Need (CON) law violates the constitutional rights of North Carolinians like Dr. Singh, but also because the law directly harms patients and taxpayers by making health care more expensive and less accessible. North Carolinians

Care has two meanings one being personal interest and concern the other meaning control, managing, custody, supervision. Which mean is the North Carolina empowering its citizens?

I would submit to you that when care options are not available, treatment is more expensive, and there are less affordable service options, the government for the people is not demonstrating genuine concern for your well being. I propose the latest actions of the North Carolina government prove their definition of Care, the second definition. The government is in control. And as a free citizen in the UnitedStates, wasn’t government created to be accountable to the people? It’s a slowfade

Medicaid dominated the health care debate in the GeneralAssembly on two fronts: expansion and transformation, according to contributorJordan Roberts of the John Locke Foundation. The purpose of the program was to assist low-income mothers, seniors, children, the blind, and the disabled.Research shows the public health insurance organization known, as Medicaid isNOT adequately addressing the needs of those it was initially intended to help.The proposed expansion would include able-bodied, working-age adults. By adding weight to an unsustainable system will cause any system to collapse. By funding this program with tax dollar, it would collapse our budget and North Carolina as a whole.

The North Carolina General Assembly

The General Assembly wisely rejected the state’s expansion and instead proposed a Transformation. The Transformation model was to shift the fee-for-service model to a managed care design, allowing managed care companies to compete for your business. These companies received fair compensation by a paid-per-member, monthly care rate for each life entrusted to them. In 2015 the General Assembly commissioned the Department of Health, andHuman Service began working on making those changes. However, though the proposed launch date was to be in November of 2019, North Carolina Governor vetoed the budget. Then adding insult to injury, Gov. Cooper vetoed a separate Stand-alone funding bill, indefinitely delaying the Medicaid transformation option.

The General Assembly then proposed the Association Health Plan bill to allow small businesses or groups of people to purchase a large healthcare plan for their employees by uniting together. The AHP bill gives small businesses a fighting option among larger corporations with bigger pockets. AHP was a bipartisan supported bill, but the governor REFUSED to signit. After sitting on the governor's desk for ten days, it passed.

Though Senate leader Phil Berger introduced the Rural Health Care Stabilization Act, which passed both houses and was signed into law, allowing rural hospitals to apply for loans from the state, where does this leave you the citizen, the voter, the taxpayers of North Carolina?

I will be 50 this year. My health care options are more on my radar now than before. My parents have moved into the area, and I worry about options for them as they enter retirement age. My sons are healthy, active, adventurous men who want to sustain their health and longevity. We must find solutions to ensure a healthier future for ALL those who call North Carolina home. Home should be a place where "family" takes care of one another

*John Locke Research Brief Health Care & Human Services January 15, 2020

by Kim Coley

Candidate

Kim Coley. Candidate for North Carolina House - District 36.