A North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research (NCCPPR) report found that the state’s Medicaid program is the fastest growing program in the North Carolina budget.  The state paid approximately $3.2 billion for Medicaid last year, constituting 15 percent of the state’s budget and an 8 percent increase over the previous-year funding level.  The NCCPPR also found that, as the state population ages, Medicaid will constitute an even greater share of the state’s budget.  The report offers three possible innovations to slow the program’s growth rate and reduce cost. 

From the News Release:

A new study by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research finds that as North Carolina’s older population doubles by 2030, the Medicaid program will consume an ever-greater portion of the state budget. Medicaid provides health care for individuals with low incomes, long term care for the elderly, and services for people with disabilities. According to recent estimates from the Fiscal Research Division of the N.C. General Assembly, Medicaid already is the fastest-growing program in the state budget. In the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2009, the authorized state budget for Medicaid was $3.2 billion, or 15 percent of the total state budget – an increase of 9 percent from 2008. And, just last week, N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler told legislators that Medicaid is expected to be $250 million over budget by June 2010, creating a problem for next year’s budget, which begins in July 2010.

News Release:  Medicaid is Fastest Growing Program in State Budget: Growth Will Accelerate as State's Population Ages (html)

North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research Inc. (2010). Medicaid is fastest growing program in state budget: growth will accelerate as state's population ages.