The NC Senate was willing to expand Medicaid in a budget deal. Here’s why that’s changed.

North Carolina Senate Republicans were willing to include Medicaid expansion in a budget agreement with Gov. Roy Cooper but House Republicans did not agree, Senate leader Phil Berger said Tuesday night.

“In the context of getting a budget this year, particularly the budget that had many of the terms, if not all of the terms, of the budgets that were passed by the House and the Senate, that crafting Medicaid expansion on top of that was, in my view, a trade that was worth considering,” said Berger, a Rockingham County Republican.

“I am one person who feels that way, I think there are other folks that would be willing to do that. But we don’t have the kind of consensus between the House and the Senate for that to be the position of the House and the Senate. So I support the position that we have jointly come to with the House, which is that Medicaid expansion is not something that would be in the final package.”

House Speaker Tim Moore said last week that there are not the votes for Medicaid expansion in his caucus. Berger indicated Tuesday that Senate Republicans could have passed it. Cooper, a Democrat in his second term, has long wanted to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of low-income adults in the state.

“We’ve not asked people to raise their hands, but I would not be in favor of putting it into a bill if we did not have the votes to pass it,” Berger said.

In early October, The News & Observer reported Berger was “open to discussion” about expansion.

“I have indicated that I thought that was something that would be appropriate for us to move forward with. But what we’re talking about is a discussion between the legislature and the governor as to what the budget should be,” Berger said. “And when we don’t have an agreement between the House and the Senate to put a particular thing on the table, then we can’t put that on the table.”

Time running out on budget negotiations

Cooper and legislative leaders continue to work on a budget compromise agreement, though Berger said time may be running out for the negotiations to bear fruit.

“We’re probably getting real close to the point where we are going to have to just put together a conference report (between the House and the Senate) and submit it to the chambers for a vote. I don’t have a firm timeline on that, but we can’t just continue to wait,” Berger said.

Cooper proposed his latest counteroffer to legislative leaders last week. Berger said it contained two alternatives.

“Neither of those were things that we could say yes to,” Berger said. “And in both instances we continue to be very, very far apart.”

There are differences over Medicaid expansion, tax packages and spending levels, Berger said. He said he agreed with Cooper’s assessment that there is agreement on more than 90% of the budget, but the differences are significant — and he’s starting to hear about it from members who are still in Raleigh past Halloween.

“What I am, at this point, concerned about is the interplay between how far apart we are and the fact that it is now the 2nd of November, and I am starting to get some rumblings from members in both chambers about you know, we need to do something,” Berger said. “Maybe that rumbling should have started two months ago, but it’s definitely being heard now.”