Tagged: North Carolina

"A good first step." That's how some North Carolina immigration advocates and business leaders are describing the immigration overhaul filed in the U.S. Senate Wednesday.

Governor Pat McCrory outlined a plan to significantly change North Carolina's Medicaid program last week. A key person responsible for filling in the details is Carol Steckel. She's the director of the state's Medicaid program, and she spoke to WFAE's Michael Tomsic about the reasons for the overhaul and how it's designed to work.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory plans to make major changes to the state's Medicaid system. About 1.8 1.5 million North Carolinians who are low-income, young, elderly or disabled rely on Medicaid for health coverage.

McCrory said the current system is broken and inefficient.  He pointed to an audit that showed the state has been horrible at managing the cost of the program. He said the state hasn't been much better at managing the care people get, either.

Hospitals in the Carolinas are dealing with a growing threat from a type of superbug. It's only infected a small percentage of patients. But that percentage is on the rise, and the infections can be deadly.

The superbug is called CRE, and a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control describes it as "nightmare bacteria." 

Dr. Katie Passaretti of Carolinas HealthCare System said it's evolved into something extremely difficult to treat.