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NC governor says state will decide this week when to expand COVID vaccine availability Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan and Richard Stradling, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) Feb. 9—RALEIGH — N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday that the state will announce this week when it will widen the availability of COVID-19 vaccines to include teachers, firefighters and other front-line essential workers. At a press conference Tuesday, Cooper said the state will provide "precise dates" that those front-line essential workers, known as Group 3 in North Carolina, will be eligible for vaccine...

The NC Council for Health Care Coverage worked Friday to put the final touches on a set of principles that it hopes will guide legislators and the Cooper administration toward getting health insurance for more North Carolinians. The large group of lawmakers, employers, insurers and others have met under the auspices of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy since last month to come up with goals for expanded health insurance coverage. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, created the bipartisan group. He pushed for Medicaid expansion in his first term as the way to get more adults insured. Opponen...

Lawmakers are fighting to help small businesses afford health insurance, but they’re running out of time.  As the pandemic and the shutdowns wreck the economy, thousands of North Carolinians continue to lose their insurance. North Carolina has nearly 1.2 million uninsured residents. Gov. Roy Cooper and his allies are pushing Medicaid expansion as the solution. But Republicans are skeptical, and they want other reforms.  Medicaid expansion receded into the background during the second meeting of the N.C. Council for Health Care Coverage on Friday, Dec. 18. Cooper filled the first meeting w...