RALEIGH — Today, Roy Cooper continued his “Make Stuff Cost Less” tour, holding an event in Greensboro to highlight how he will continue his work in the U.S. Senate to make life more affordable for North Carolina families, especially when it comes to their health care.
“North Carolinians are struggling with skyrocketing health care costs and insurance companies that are ripping them off,” said Roy Cooper. “Washington DC’s attacks on health care are driving up costs and making it harder to get and Michael Whatley has championed these reckless policies. In North Carolina we actually brought Democrats and Republicans together to make health care more affordable and accessible, and I’ll bring that same common sense to the U.S. Senate so that we can get real results for people just trying to get by. ”
“I’m a health care professional and a mom to my amazing 12-year-old daughter who has cerebral palsy and relies on Medicaid to get the care she needs to lead a full life – without this help, we simply can’t afford to provide what our daughter needs,” said Winston-Salem mom and health care professional Meredith Vaughn. “No parent should have to choose between groceries and the health care their child needs. North Carolina needs Roy Cooper in the U.S. Senate to fight to lower health care costs for families and children like mine.”
Last week, Roy released his plan to lower the cost of food and groceries. At today’s event, he unveiled the second part of his plan to make stuff cost less, focused on how he’ll continue his work to lower the cost of health care:
- Let doctors decide about health care, not insurance bureaucrats. End insurance company runarounds by allowing doctors to make coverage decisions, and reform insurance company reviews that result in denial of coverage for what a doctor says you need.
- Reverse cuts that leave people without health insurance or unable to afford the coverage they have. North Carolina saw the largest drop of any state in Affordable Care Act enrollment. Reinstate the ACA tax credits and reverse Medicaid cuts. This will help lower costs for everyone’s premiums, including people who get their health insurance through an employer.
- Require Medicare to broaden negotiations with drug makers to make more prescription medicines affordable.
- Put patient care first at hospitals. Strengthen oversight of harmful hospital mergers and takeovers that put profits over patients.
- Crack down on pharmacy benefit managers and their middlemen who put small town pharmacists out of business and pocket savings instead of passing them along to patients.
- Curb surprise billing. Cap out-of-network charges for non-emergency care so that staying out-of-network isn’t a business strategy for health care companies, and designate emergency ground ambulance services as an essential health benefit—98% of emergency transport is unprotected.
- Cap annual prescription drug out-of-pocket costs for consumers.
- Prevent medical debt by mandating hospitals auto enroll in charity care, lowering drug and medical costs for all.
- Increase enforcement on upfront pricing to make health care costs transparent. Consumers should be able to shop around for the cost of common procedures and tests.
Roy was joined by Meredith Vaughn, a mom and health care professional, who spoke about how attacks on health care coming out of Washington are making health care more unaffordable for her family.
Roy has been laser-focused on lowering health care costs for North Carolinians. In 2023, he assembled a bipartisan coalition to expand Medicaid for hundreds of thousands of working North Carolinians, lowering costs for everyone. Nearly 715,000 people are now covered because of Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion also provided a lifeline for rural communities, bringing an influx of critical federal funding to help keep rural hospitals and emergency rooms open. Roy also created a first-in-the-nation solution to help relieve more than $6.5 billion in medical debt for over 2.5 million North Carolinians, many of whom are in debt because insurance companies refused to pay legitimate medical bills, and to prevent this debt from accruing in the future.
Roy will continue the Make Stuff Cost Less campaign in the coming weeks, talking about reducing the cost of housing, utilities and child care. He will meet with North Carolinians across the state to discuss his plans to fight for lower costs for working families in the U.S. Senate.
###