Medicaid is a government funded health insurance program for low-income individuals. At more than $5 million a year, Columbus County’s state mandated Medicaid contribution accounts for roughly 17 cent of the property tax rate. While there are proposals in the N.C. House that would provide one-time relief of up to $3.5 million for Columbus County and another emerging in the Senate that would permanently take over Medicaid expenses in exchange for certain local sales taxes and tax on beer and wine sales, neither proposal may be finalized in time for the county to balance its budget by the July 1 deadline. What are your thoughts on the Medicaid situation? How should commissioners approach finalizing the budget amidst the uncertainty of additional relief?
May 21
May 21st, 2007 at 2:55 pm
the commissioners need to balance the budget without regard for pending legislation. counting on being rescued when you’re capable of helping yourself is for the weak. make the hard decisions, take the heat and do what you must to ensure columbus county has a bright future.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:31 am
There has been alot of speculation on Medicaid in Columbus County. I would like for someone to clear this up so people aren’t upset all the time.
Just balance the budget and get on with it.
May 24th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Here we go again our commissioners are one of the highest paid in North carolina.We are one of the poorest counties in North Carolina.
Doesnt make sense to me.
May 26th, 2007 at 11:49 am
the cost of everything continues to go up. how can we expect everything else in the world to increase by about 3-5% per year and not the cost of government operations. i think the commissioners should have put a 3% cost of living increase in place for each year in between revaluation to keep from having such a large increase at once. like the 12% increase they are talk about now