A Medicaid program helping with nonmedical needs like housing, food and transportation will run out of funding at the end of the month.
Healthy Opportunities Pilots serves some high-needs enrollees in the High Country.
The end of funding came as a surprise, says Laurie Stradley, CEO of Asheville-based Impact Health.
What state health officials call a first-in-the-country initiative was designed to address the root causes of bad health outcomes. Stradley says the work was paying off, especially in the wake of Helene.
“It's more cost-effective than having those folks experience malnutrition, poor housing, and then need to use our Medicaid system to take care of the health effects,” she says. “So yeah, it's a pretty devastating blow right now.”
The pilot program is currently operating in three mostly rural areas in North Carolina. Two are in the eastern part of the state. The other is in mountain counties like Yancey and Avery.
Stradley says she hopes legislators will not only restore the funding but also eventually expand the program statewide.