Millions of low- and middle- income North Carolinians are one step closer to medical debt relief. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved on Friday, July 26 Governor Roy Cooper and the NC Department of Health and Human Services’ plan to use the state's Medicaid program to incentivize hospitals to relieve more than a decade of existing medical debt for eligible North Carolinians and prevent accumulation of new debt going forward.