-
3 days 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.
-
4 days 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.
-
5 days 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.
-
1 week ago | 
wunc.org | Grace Vitaglione
The North Carolina House of Representatives approved a budget plan on May 22 for the next two fiscal years that would cut some vacant positions in the health department, loosen child care regulations and eliminate Medicaid coverage of GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic, for weight loss. The House’s budget plan came about a month after the N.C. Senate released theirs.
-
1 week ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione
The North Carolina House of Representatives approved a budget plan on May 22 for the next two fiscal years that would cut some vacant positions in the health department, loosen child care regulations and eliminate Medicaid coverage of GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic, for weight loss. The House’s budget plan came about a month after the N.C. Senate released theirs.
-
1 month ago | 
wunc.org | Grace Vitaglione |Rachel Crumpler
Update May 6: The House voted 68-41 to pass House Bill 519. Republican lawmakers in the state House of Representatives have introduced a bill seeking to limit confidentiality between minors and their health providers — and to grant parents greater access to their children’s medical records and decision-making. Lead bill sponsor Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, R-Hendersonville, introduced House Bill 519 at the House Rules Committee on May 5, where it passed.
-
1 month ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione |Rachel Crumpler
Republican lawmakers in the North Carolina House of Representatives considered several bills affecting transgender youth this week. House Bill 606, which passed the House on May 6, would extend the statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims for minors who underwent a gender transition. House Bill 560 would prevent abuse or neglect allegations from being based on not accepting a children’s gender identity.
-
1 month ago | 
ednc.org | Grace Vitaglione
This article was originally published by NC Health News. Child care providers and advocates spent the last year sounding the alarm about potential closures and/or price hikes when pandemic lockdown-era federal funding for child care centers dried up in July 2024. The North Carolina General Assembly passed two rounds of funding to keep the centers stabilized — until now. Those stabilization grants ran out at the end of March.
-
1 month ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione
After several months of sleepy committee hearings that moved only a handful of bills at a time, last week was a busy one at the North Carolina General Assembly, which went into overdrive ahead of a legislative deadline. Dozens of bills moved through their respective committees; 24 bills were heard in health committees alone.
-
1 month ago | 
wfae.org | Grace Vitaglione
Child care providers and advocates spent the last year sounding the alarm about potential closures and/or price hikes when pandemic lockdown-era federal funding for child care centers dried up in July 2024. The North Carolina General Assembly passed two rounds of funding to keep the centers stabilized — until now. Those stabilization grants ran out at the end of March.
