"A plan to cut reimbursement rates to doctors who care for the poor and disabled has led to a tussle between Gov. Bev Perdue and North Carolina physicians.
In the current state budget, Perdue and the legislature agreed that Medicaid reimbursement rates would be reduced by $26.6 million or 1.35 percent, if the state found it necessary to close a gap in federal Medicaid funding.
Perdue's office says the cut is now necessary. The doctors say the state has access to plenty of federal money and could use a $300 million federal education windfall to avoid cutting the rates.
Perdue's office pitches the debate as one between teachers' wallets and doctors' incomes.
'Are they suggesting that we take designated education money away from teachers and pay them instead?' said Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for Perdue, a Democrat. 'The state is in the business of trying to protect essential services in a very tough recession. We hope these providers will join us in understanding that we're trying very hard to find a middle ground between slashing services and balancing a budget.'
Doctors groups say Medicaid rates are already low and that reducing them further will force doctors to accept fewer Medicaid patients..."
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