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By Matt Willoughby | Civitas Institute
RALEIGH— Medicaid services not required by the federal government but approved by the state legislature in years past cost $4.4 billion in 2010-2011. That accounted for 46 percent of the $10 billion Medicaid budget. North Carolina’s Medicaid program was referred to as a “Cadillac” program in a study by the Lewin Group a few years ago.The most expensive of the optional services include:
- Prescription drugs: $1.1 billion
- Community alternative programs: $809.6 million
- Mental health: $752.7 million
- Intermediate care facilities: $482.1 million
- Personal care: $436.7 million
Other optional services include adult dental care ($143.3 million), physical, occupational and speech therapies ($84.6 million), private duty nursing ($69.2 million), hospice care ($66.6 million), case management ($73 million), transportation ($47.6 million), orthotics and prosthetics ($19 million), routine adult eye exams ($8.4 million), podiatry ($5.5 million), adult visual aids ($5 million), chiropractor ($1.5 million) and hearing aids ($96,303).
