SALISBURY — North Carolina officially expanded Medicaid on Dec. 1, 2023. To help raise awareness about how that expansion could benefit the community, WellCare, one of the companies contracted through the state to assist with the expansion, hosted a fair at Bell Tower Green on Saturday. 

Alisha Martin, senior community relations representative with WellCare, was on site Saturday.

“WellCare is here today to educate the community on Medicaid expansion and to make sure everyone is up to date with their recertification,” Martin said. “It’s a big push in North Carolina, especially with Medicaid expansion, so we want to be out here to educate the community along with bringing the community together to have a good time.”

WellCare is one of the state’s five contracted Medicaid plans. The other four are AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina, Inc.; Healthy Blue of North Carolina; UnitedHealthcare of North Carolina, Inc.; and Carolina Complete Health, Inc..

“We are contracted by the state and provide Medicaid management care services,” Martin said. 

Martin indicated that WellCare performs myriad tasks with “everything from being out in the community to care management, to making sure that we have community health workers present to provide families with all the necessary things they need.”

She said that also means “fighting against social determinants of health and making sure we are healing the community outside the doctor’s office.”

Almost 3 million people in North Carolina are now on Medicaid.

“That is where we are now,” Martin said. “When expansion went live, we gained about 500,000 people. Dec. 1 is when we went live. We have a ton more people on Medicaid now. A lot of people rolled into Medicaid with the income gap raising. It’s a good thing for North Carolina for sure.”

Once WellCare knew the expansion was going live, they got to work planning events like the one in the park.

“When we knew Medicaid expansion was going live, we tried to figure out how to strategically serve our community and get the word out,” Martin said. “We are getting great feedback from it. I want to say this is the 15th one we have done in the past three months.”

They hosted a similar fair in Concord on Easter Sunday which featured an Easter egg hunt. 

They also had one in Morehead City over the weekend, another near Raleigh and another in the mountains. 

“Everything we do is critiqued to the community that we are in, whether that is the zip code, what that community needs, what we think the turnout will be,” Martin said. “We try to pick the zip code where our members are and where medicaid beneficiaries would be and go there.” 

Quick facts about Medicaid expansion from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

• North Carolina expanded who can get Medicaid starting Dec. 1, 2023.
• Adults ages 19 through 64 earning up to 138% of the federal poverty line (e.g., singles earning about $20,000/year or families of three earning about $34,000/year) may be eligible. 
• The best way to apply is online through ePASS or HealthCare.gov; you can also apply in-person, by phone or mailed applications. The processing time for applications can be up to 45 days. Applications submitted online may be processed faster. 
• The coverage is comprehensive, including services like primary care, hospital stays, maternity care, vision and hearing, dental/oral health care and more. 
• Medicaid pays for doctor visits, yearly check-ups, emergency care, mental health and more — at little or no cost to you. 
• Current beneficiaries with full Medicaid coverage will not see any changes.