NC Senate committee moves to block participation in federal healthcare reform

The state Senate's insurance committee wasted little time Thursday in approving a bill to block expansion of Medicaid to poor adults in North Carolina and to require the state to hand over all aspects of its new health insurance exchange to the federal government. Senate Bill No. 4, also known as the No N.C. Exchange/No Medicaid Expansion law, is a response to the Affordable Care Act, which requires states to establish an online marketplace, known as an exchange, for consumers in need of low-cost insurance. The act also allows but cannot require states to expand Medicaid to cover certain categories of low-income adults now excluded from the federal health insurance program.