A Concord small business owner is celebrating
tonight after what he calls a miracle.
More than $80,000 just arrived in
his account, just weeks after a
where's the money investigation?
Our story, in fact,
prompted a top state official to
apologize for the ongoing Medicaid
issues behind his delay in payment.
And so this all stems back to North
Carolina's decision to hand over
control of its health insurance
program to five private companies.
That was in July of last year.
Our Nate Morabito has reported
extensively on the bumpy rollout of that.
Program, which left some health care
providers want waiting months to get
paid for Medicaid patients they treated.
More than a year later,
executives and bureaucrats alike are finally
paying attention to this man struggle.
It took the involvement of a state
lawmaker and reporting by myself and
other journalists across the state.
But the money is now flowing here in Concord.
And not just what insurance companies
owe to small business owner,
but penalties and interest too. North
Carolina's new look Medicaid
program almost broke Cory Pena.
There's no rhyme or reason.
When I reached out to Nate initially,
it was I'm thinking, I'm gonna go
bankrupt, have to sell the house.
He credits divine intervention for
pulling him back from the brink
from the time of the new story.
I can't run a business like this.
We've had a tremendous response quickly,
he says. His deposit sheet details a
flood of long overdue Medicaid payments,
along with penalties and interest
paid by multiple insurance companies.
Hey, Nate. How you feeling?
I'm feeling good. Yeah, I'm,
I'm, I'm in a lot better place
than I was a few weeks ago.
The grand total? More than $82,000.
But this is more than just money,
and it's unjust. I'm talking to
presidents and vice presidents.
I'm not talking to a customer service Rep
this represents accountability.
Did he apologize?
Oh, profusely. Profusely. Pina
is now hearing apologies from
insurance company executives and
NC Medicaid's. Deputy Secretary,
you did everything right and
we just did not. We did not
deliver. But his concern remains not
for providers as much, but instead
for patients, kids specifically.
And it hurts me to hear these stories,
stories that continue to stick with him.
Their children aren't getting the care
in a timely fashion or at all. Despite
those anecdotes, North Carolina
for better Medicaid funded by
two of the health plans concluded
patients themselves had a favorable.
View of their health care at
the one year anniversary mark.
Overwhelmingly, beneficiaries
are approving of their health
coverage since the transaction.
Executive director Sarah Debose cited
the results of a recent online survey,
which included an oversample
of 150 Medicaid beneficiaries.
It's great to know that your beneficiaries,
at the end of the day, are receiving
the care that they deserve. Pena
isn't quite convinced, but
personally, he feels a change.
There's more news, there's more press.
Maybe there's a little bit more.
Pressure to be more proactive.
A good chunk of the money he spent
months waiting on is now in hand.
Are we there yet? No, but we're
getting pretty darn close.
We as a company can breathe now,
which means he won't have to turn
away the kids who rely on him for
care patients he helps overcome
cerebral palsy and spina bifida.
The state has penalized the
health plans when they don't live
up to their end of the bargain.
Medicaid records show the
five health plans have paid
a combined nearly $1,000,000.
And finds so far Nate Morabito,
WC and C Charlie.
And right now, on our website and mobile app,
we did a little deeper into the
process that went behind this story.
A member of our digital team talks to
Nate one-on-one about the investigative
steps to track down these funds,
research the issues with this
Medicaid system and using that
research to get those results.
That video is located inside Nate's
story located on the home page.