Carolina Journal Radio No. 846: New Duke research raises serious questions about Medicaid

New research from Duke University scholars questions Medicaid’s value for the people the health care program was designed to help. The research arrives as the N.C. General Assembly and Gov. Roy Cooper continue to bicker over Cooper’s proposal to expand Medicaid to several hundred thousand more people in the state. Jordan Roberts, John Locke Foundation health care policy analyst, assesses the new research and its potential impact. The latest U.S. Supreme Court term yielded several important rulings, including two with direct impacts on N.C. congressional elections and the state Revenue Department’s taxing authority. Ilya Shapiro, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, recaps those cases, other key decisions, and important trends from the nation’s highest court. Legislative supporters of President Trump’s latest trade deal with Mexico and Canada ran into trouble when they tried to approve a resolution supporting the agreement. The resolution included positive comments about the 1990s-era North American Free Trade Agreement. Opponents of NAFTA in the N.C. House refused to vote in favor of any legislation praising that trade deal. House leaders dumped the resolution back into a committee. State lawmakers continue to hear bipartisan arguments in favor of the Second Chance Act. It would allow more people to expunge old criminal convictions from their records. During a recent hearing, lawmakers heard support from the idea from district attorneys, the state’s leading business group, and former criminal offenders tied to the Second Chance Alliance. Evidence continues to mount that film incentives fail to live up to the economic promises advocates make for them. Jon Sanders, John Locke Foundation director of regulatory studies, offers an update on incentives. Sanders also highlights good news in the ongoing campaign to rid N.C. state government of unnecessary and outdated regulations.