North Carolina Health Insurance

How healthy is living
in North Carolina?

North Carolina is the 33rd healthiest state according to the United Health Foundation's 2012 comparison of health status across the 50 states.

The good news:

• The percentage of children in poverty is 23.9 percent, down from 27.6 percent in 2011.
• Air quality has improved over the past five years.

The bad news:

• The current ranking of 29th is the lowest scored by Montana since the first report, which was issued in 1990.
• The percentage of children in poverty increased by nearly 6 percentage points from 2011 to 2012.

North Carolina's best and worst category rankings:

• Binge Drinking – 7th
• Infectious Disease – 18th
• Poor Mental Health Days – 19th
• Poor Physical Health Days – 19th
• Low Birth Weight – 44th
• Infant Mortality – 46th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on North Carolina.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key North Carolina health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts North Carolina here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for North Carolina, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Does North Carolina have a health insurance high risk pool?

North Carolina Health Insurance Risk Pool (NCHIRP)
Toll-free 1-866-665-2117

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, North Carolina started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about North Carolina's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

Non-profit sources of health insurance information for North Carolina

• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's mission is to provide simplified public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access coverage. Here is its guide on how to find health insurance in North Carolina.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking the progress of health insurance reform in each state. Its page for North Carolina can be found here.
• The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers. Search for North Carolina health insurance plan report cards.

North Carolina state government health insurance resources

SmartNC —  Consumer services from the North Carolina Department of Insurance.

North Carolina Health Choice (NCHC) for Children —  For families who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford rising health insurance premiums so they are able to get free or reduced price comprehensive health care for their children.

North Carolina Medicaid —  Serves about 20 percent of the state’s population, whose low income prevents them from purchasing health insurance in the private market.

How did North Carolina officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (7)

• Howard Coble
• Renee Ellmers
• Virginia Foxx
• Walter Jones

• Patrick McHenry
• Mike McIntyre
• Sue Myrick

Our
Pick

No (6)

• George Butterfield
• Larry Kissell
• R. Miller
• David Price

• Heath Shuler
• Melvin Watt