NC Gov. Stein expected to restore NC Medicaid rates Wednesday
North Carolina cut payments to Medicaid providers from 3% to 10% in October.
“It is time to fund Medicaid,” Gov. Josh Stein said in a news conference Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025 in Raleigh. “Because if [lawmakers] fail to do so, people are suffering. And it is unacceptable.” (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)
A cut of 3% to 10% in the state’s payments to Medicaid providers took effect in October for many programs. The state Department of Health and Human Services said the cuts were necessary because state lawmakers had underfunded the Medicaid program by around $319 million in its stopgap spending package this summer.
NC DHHS Secretary Devdutta Sangvai said the state’s Medicaid program is required to have a balanced budget. He said the cuts were intended to ensure the program didn’t run out of money sometime in spring 2026.
Stein’s office announced a press conference with Sangvai at 9:30 a.m. Wednseday that will include “an update on the status of Medicaid funding.” A spokesperson for DHHS said Sangvai would be in attendance and would speak at the meeting. Stein’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
It is within Stein’s power to order DHHS to restore the rates.
Republican legislative leaders said the cuts were unnecessary because they plan to appropriate more money to fill the gap.
However, there’s no clear timeline for providing the extra funding: GOP House and Senate leaders have been in a monthslong standoff on the issue. Both chambers have passed separate bills to fund the program, acknowledging it as a need, but have declined to pass each other’s proposals.
Stein previously asked the Republican-led legislature to return to Raleigh and approve legislation to fully fund Medicaid. They rejected his call in November, calling it unconstitutional and politically motivated.
Rural health practices and clinics, whose patients rely on the program, have said they are already struggling in the face of reduced payments.
The state’s rate cuts have already been challenged in court. An administrative judge blocked an 8% cut for personal care services in adult care homes last month, and ordered the state to pay the full rate. And a separate judge blocked cuts to autism treatment, NC Newsline previously reported.
credit: https://ncnewsline.com/2025/12/09/nc-gov-stein-expected-to-restore-nc-medicaid-rates-wednesday/
