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Affordability, News & Updates, North Carolina, Research, State Efforts

North Carolina Voices: New Research on Health Care Affordability & Access

Published On February 5, 2025

Affordability & Access in North Carolina

USofCare and the North Carolina Justice Center (NC Justice Center) released a joint listening report, Trapped in the Health Care Maze: Struggling to Navigate Health Costs, Access, and Complexities in Rural North Carolina. The report includes themes and quotes from listening sessions in four rural North Carolina counties underscoring just how much North Carolinians are struggling to meet their health care needs. It also includes targeted policy recommendations for North Carolina lawmakers to make health care more affordable, predictable, and accessible for all people in the state. 

We hope these findings and recommendations will be instructive to policymakers in and outside of North Carolina. 

United States of Care also released findings from our public opinion research highlighting the impact of hospital consolidation, hospital facility fees, and other health care cost barriers on North Carolinians. Among the findings are the insights that 7-in-10 North Carolina voters have experienced negative impacts of hospital consolidation – including higher costs (45%) and longer wait times (40%) – and nearly three-quarters (72%) of North Carolina voters are worried about being charged a facility fee

The findings from our listening work with the North Carolina Justice Center and our public opinion research are clear – North Carolinians are trapped between unaffordable health care costs and an inaccessible health care system.

Liz Hagan
United States of Care Director of Policy Solutions