RALEIGH, NC – Today, Roy Cooper hosted a roundtable discussion in Greensboro on the high costs of health care. Roy discussed how insurance companies continue to raise prices and how leaders in Washington DC have driven up costs for hardworking families. From surprise billing and denied claims to skyrocketing premiums and cuts to Medicaid, the cost of health care continues to move further out of reach for North Carolinians.
“With health care costs soaring and insurance companies ripping people off, North Carolinians are struggling,” said Roy Cooper. “Instead of helping working families, Washington DC politicians are recklessly driving up costs, all the while Michael Whatley is cheering them on. As Governor, I expanded Medicaid for hundreds of thousands of working North Carolinians, helping to lower health care costs for everyone. In the Senate, I’ll take on the insurance companies and the DC insiders and fight every day to make life more affordable for North Carolina families.”
Governor Cooper was joined by physicians whose patients are facing high health care costs, a Greensboro resident who relied on Medicaid to cover the cost of surgery and a North Carolinian who works to help people get enrolled in health care.
Governor Cooper has been laser-focused on lowering health care costs for North Carolinians. In 2023, Governor Cooper 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. Governor Cooper 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.
Meanwhile, DC insider Michael Whatley cheered on Washington Republicans as they refused to renew ACA subsidies last year and he has championed the idea of “market-driven solutions” which would eliminate the landmark health care legislation and let insurance companies charge people more for less care. Now, North Carolinians face skyrocketing health care premiums on top of other rising costs.
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