Gov. Pat McCrory met with N.C. Medicaid employees on Wednesday, June 19 during a surprise visit to discuss our responsibility to bring Medicaid cost overruns under control and improve quality of care for North Carolinians.

“There is no issue more important and consequential than Medicaid and Medicaid reform for the long-term health of ours state,” McCrory told employees gathered at Haywood Gym on the Dorothea Dix Campus in Raleigh.

Hundreds of millions of dollars of unexpected Medicaid overruns make it difficult to budget responsibly for other priorities like education, transportation and job recruitment, as well as state employee raises.

“We have to be able to accurately predict our costs so that we can budget responsibly. And that responsibility starts with you in this room,” he said. “The accuracy, precision and credibility of the information and data you produce is critical.”

He urged Medicaid staff members to collaborate, bring new ideas forward and question “every single decision you make, and think about how it impacts the bigger picture. The people of North Carolina are counting on us. And if you are able to create a product that is accurate and reliable, we will all succeed.”

DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos said she invited the governor to meet with employees of the Division of Medical Assistance because the governor and the legislature “must budget an appropriate amount of taxpayer money – based on your work – to support all the state services and our many programs, including Medicaid.”

“The challenges before us are great, but so is the opportunity we have to get it right,” Wos said.

She thanked McCrory for his leadership and for spending time with the N.C. Medicaid employees to share his concern.

The governor tallied the program’s impact on the state’s budget and its people.

“Each year we spend $13 billion on Medicaid. That means that the people in this room are responsible for the single largest program in the state,” McCrory said. “Each day, Medicaid spends $36 million to provide critical services to more than 1.5 million of North Carolina’s most vulnerable citizens. This is a huge responsibility. So your job … the work you do day in and day out … is critical to the entire government. We have to get this right.”