Statute: NC Health Choice
July 21, 2006
NC Health Choice (NCHC)is a state funded health insurance program for children whose parents make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough money to afford traditional health insurance. NCHC is administered by the same folks that run the NC Teachers' and Employees Health Plan, but NCHC does not get a lien under the State Employees Statute.
No lien? Yes, that's right, no lien. Do medical providers have to accept NCHC as the only payment for medical care? Yes. And medical providers can not "balance bill" the patient. Its all right here in the enacting statute.
So basically NCHC acts like Medicaid (Doctors have to take it if they accept any NCHC patients), it provides the benefits the SEHP, and there is NO LIEN.
And on top of all of that, its a great program for the citizens of NC. The only problem is that it needs more funding and needs to extend the reach of it's coverage higher up the economic scale. There is no reason that a State that can afford to "write off" millions of dollars of taxes for Dell Computer to build a plant should not provide low or no cost health insurance for its children.
It's the right thing to do. I'm glad we are doing it.
Chris Nichols
Nichols Law Firm
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