Grace Vitaglione

Washington, D.C., United States

Legislative and Aging Health Reporter at North Carolina Health News

Articles

Here are the health provisions in the NC Senate and House budgets - compared

5 days ago | northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione |Rose Hoban

North Carolina state lawmakers will probably leave Raleigh without passing a budget before the new fiscal year starts on July 1. Likely sticking points are the two chambers’ different approaches to taxes and funding for a new children’s hospital to be built in the Triangle, among other issues. The Senate and House of Representatives each passed their own proposed spending plan earlier this spring.
Here are the health provisions in the NC Senate and House budgets - compared

5 days ago | buff.ly | Grace Vitaglione |Rose Hoban

North Carolina state lawmakers will probably leave Raleigh without passing a budget before the new fiscal year starts on July 1. Likely sticking points are the two chambers’ different approaches to taxes and funding for a new children’s hospital to be built in the Triangle, among other issues. The Senate and House of Representatives each passed their own proposed spending plan earlier this spring.
NC Senate Republicans seek to define biological sex, dismiss gender identity

1 week ago | northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione |Rachel Crumpler

State lawmakers at the North Carolina General Assembly are pondering another bill that would affect transgender people — the latest in a string of legislation targeting this population that has been introduced in recent years. Some of it has become law. Senate Republicans added language to House Bill 805, which was originally written to regulate online pornography, that would recognize only two sexes in state government rules and public policies. The language echoes President Donald Trump’s Jan.
NC Senate Republicans seek to define biological sex, dismiss gender identity

1 week ago | buff.ly | Grace Vitaglione |Rachel Crumpler

State lawmakers at the North Carolina General Assembly are pondering another bill that would affect transgender people — the latest in a string of legislation targeting this population that has been introduced in recent years. Some of it has become law. Senate Republicans added language to House Bill 805, which was originally written to regulate online pornography, that would recognize only two sexes in state government rules and public policies. The language echoes President Donald Trump’s Jan.
NC State Health Plan may take legal action against vendor CVS Caremark

3 weeks ago | northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione

The health plan that covers some 750,000 current and former state employees and their families has hit a stone wall in negotiations with its pharmacy benefit manager, CVS Caremark, and is pondering legal action against the company, the Office of the State Treasurer announced on June 5. The company owes the state tens of millions of dollars and is trying to rewrite their contract to get out of having to pay it back, State Treasurer Brad Briner claimed in an exclusive interview with NC Health News.
They ‘won’t get food’: Healthy Opportunities advocates press lawmakers to reconsider ending funding

3 weeks ago | northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione |Jaymie Baxley

In 2022, Christina Schnabel was a single mom in Hendersonville barely making ends meet. She lived in public housing and made do with help from services like Medicaid and SNAP. Her son suffered from chronic gastrointestinal symptoms. That changed after she started volunteering with a local nonprofit called Caja Solidaria. The organization was one of the community partners in the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, a Medicaid program that tackled nonmedical health needs of low-income North Carolinians.
Healthy Opportunities Pilot told to prepare for program to shutter July 1

3 weeks ago | qcitymetro.com | Rose Hoben |Grace Vitaglione |Jaymie Baxley

The Healthy Opportunities Pilot, a Medicaid program that addressed the nonmedical health needs of low-income North Carolinians, will cease operations July 1, according to an announcement obtained by NC Health News. The first-in-the-nation effort that has drawn national attention and praise was launched in 2022 and has provided assistance to across three largely rural regions of the state.
Advocates protest pesticide measure in N.C. Senate bill

3 weeks ago | northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione |Will Atwater

People dressed in green filled the seats at a North Carolina Senate committee hearing on May 14 — their clothes an act of protest against this year’s Senate version of the North Carolina Farm Act bill, a provision of which would limit liability for pesticide manufacturers. Bill co-sponsor Sen.
Healthy Opportunities Pilot told to prepare for program to shutter July 1

3 weeks ago | northcarolinahealthnews.org | Jaymie Baxley |Rose Hoban |Grace Vitaglione

The Healthy Opportunities Pilot, a Medicaid program that addressed the nonmedical health needs of low-income North Carolinians, will cease operations July 1, according to an announcement obtained by NC Health News. The first-in-the-nation effort that has drawn national attention and praise was launched in 2022 and has provided assistance to across three largely rural regions of the state.
NC lawmakers target pharmacy “middlemen” in proposed reforms

3 weeks ago | northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione

Jennifer Burch is a second-generation pharmacist who’s been working at Central Pharmacy in Durham since she was a teen. Some of her current customers have been coming to the store since the days when she still worked with her father. In those days, when they worked with pharmacy benefits managers, they paid a transmission fee — a simple financial transaction. Now, pharmacy benefit managers “control the entire pharmacy benefit very tightly,” she said.