health care

Medicaid’s fundamental flaws stem from the way in which it is funded, as both state and federal government share the total bill. If Medicaid’s federal share was transferred to North Carolina as an annual block grant, it would allow lawmakers to exercise more control over the program and create a stronger incentive to sort out system waste and abuse.

Every two years since 1996, coinciding with North Carolina's races for the General Assembly, the John Locke Foundation has published a revised edition of Agenda, our public policy guide for candidates and voters. Typically as we enter the campaign season, candidates for public office in North Carolina are faced with a daunting task: to develop informed positions on dozens of public policy issues. In the pages of Agenda 2014 we provide a concise and easily digestible guide covering a wide range of specific issues, from taxes and spending to energy policy and education.

Medicaid is a national problem, not just a state problem. All states are faced with the same incentive to grow their Medicaid programs because of the federal match. Unsustainable Medicaid spending is exacerbating the debt crisis at the federal level. It is paramount that state policymakers put pressure on Washington to reform Medicaid and willingly trade the open-ended federal reimbursement of state spending for freedom from federal roadblocks to make common-sense reforms to their programs.

Click here to view and here to listen to Joseph Coletti discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — North Carolina needs relief from a year-old federal health care reform…

North Carolina has one of the most expensive Medicaid programs in the Southeast, and Obamacare will expand enrollment from 1.3 million people to potentially over 2 million people in 2014. Without Medicaid reform or tighter eligibility, North Carolina will need to cut some services and payments to doctors. Both options will mean worse care for every person on Medicaid. Gov. Bev Perdue and the General Assembly need to push Washington for exemptions from Medicaid restrictions and greater ability to innovate with premium support and encourage patient control of their own care.

Click here to view and here to listen to Daren Bakst discussing this press release. RALEIGH — The John Locke Foundation, Center for Constitutional Litigation, and a scholar…

Click here to view and here to listen to Joseph Coletti discussing this Policy Report. RALEIGH — North Carolina lawmakers should eliminate certificate-of-need laws, mandated health insurance benefits,…

North Carolina policymakers should eliminate provider licensing, certificate-of-need laws, and mandated health insurance benefits. Short of this, the state can accept alternative forms of credentialing and ensure consumers have the right to purchase optional benefits at additional cost. These regulations limit access to health care providers and health insurance by artificially constraining markets.

RALEIGH – Increased accountability and a larger private sector role could help improve North Carolina’s troubled mental health system. That’s a major recommendation offered in a new John Locke Foundation…

North Carolina’s 2001 mental health reform was ambitious and well intentioned but flawed. Many proven ideas did not make the final version of reform and lawmakers immediately raided the mental health trust fund to cover a General Fund fiscal crisis in 2001.