Health care and child care are the main topics of debate Tuesday at the state legislature, as lawmakers are spending the day debating a series of issues that have been driving up costs for individuals and the state government, and causing headaches for business owners.<\/p>\n
More than one in four new parents has had to quit their job, against their will, because they were unable to find affordable or available childcare, state officials said in one of Tuesday\u2019s hearings. That\u2019s costing businesses billions of dollars in lost productivity. It\u2019s also hurting some couples\u2019 personal financial standing, trading two salaries for one.<\/p>\n
According to the presentation, there are also many cases in which new parents don\u2019t quit their jobs but, because they can\u2019t find reliable child care, have turned down promotions or delayed moving into newer and more lucrative careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAffordable, quality childcare supports working families and parents to be able to go to work \u2014 which allows businesses to recruit work, retain talent, and helps to keep North Carolina’s future workforce developing skills and success for school and for life,\u201d Candace Witherspoon, who leads early childhood programming for the state Department of Health and Human Services, told lawmakers Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The legislature has previously debated some potential solutions for the state\u2019s child care shortage, although action has been limited.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been debate around building child care facilities on-site at state universities or other large government office buildings to help recruit and retain state employees, but that hasn\u2019t happened yet. Expanding subsidies for low-income families also isn\u2019t a popular topic among Republican politicians who control the state legislature. Witherspoon said Tuesday that the state only pays enough to cover 18% of the children who qualify for subsidies. More than 15,000 children were on the waitlist to receive subsidies as of late 2025, she said.<\/p>\n
There are competing forces driving problems in child care, she told lawmakers. Costs have risen substantially; the average cost for child care is now more than $11,000 a year in North Carolina. But at the same time, the average child care worker makes just $14.20 an hour.<\/p>\n
The low salaries make it tough for child care centers to keep workers, since they can find many other jobs with comparable or higher salaries. That means many centers have empty classrooms, unable to enroll children due to the lack of staff.<\/p>\n
But paying staff more would likely require raising rates, putting child care out of reach financially for even more families, and possibly leading the center to shut down entirely.<\/p>\n
Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, also noted that it\u2019s hard \u2014 particularly in rural areas like his \u2014 to convince local community colleges to invest in the staff and space necessary to teach the courses child care workers need to be certified for their jobs. There\u2019s a concern people won\u2019t be interested in that training and career, he said, since they \u201ccan make more money in fast food.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMedicaid concerns<\/p>\n
A separate oversight committee on Medicaid also met Tuesday, delving into several areas of concern for state lawmakers trying to keep costs down.<\/p>\n
It comes as Stein is pressing lawmakers to pay another $319 million this spring into Medicaid. The program, which provides health care for 3 million North Carolinians, is facing a shortfall<\/a> due to rising costs and the lack of a new state budget.<\/p>\n If it runs out of money, which Stein’s administration says could happen within months, those millions of patients could find themselves unable to get coverage for health care.<\/p>\n GOP leaders acknowledge Medicaid is underfunded, but they have repeatedly rebuked Stein\u2019s requests that they act to fully fund the program. Stein called a special session of the legislature late last year to address Medicaid funding, which Republicans ignored<\/a> and didn\u2019t attend.<\/p>\n