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The state Senate unveiled its latest Medicaid reform initiative Thursday, compromising with the House on a bigger role for provider-led entities, but still insisting on creating a cabinet-level N.C. Medicaid Department. The version contains other potential sticking points, such as behavioral health managed care organizations (MCOs) playing a subcontractor services role, and the Senate's pursuit of reducing, then eliminating, state financing for the N.C. Community Care Networks. ... Medicaid reform is one of the biggest sticking points between state Republican leaders and Gov. Pat McCrory, who has said repeatedly he thinks that the program is broken, though some health care advocates dispute that assessment. (Craver, 8/6)

A bill that calls for the privatization of Medicaid using a mix of commercial insurers and in-state health care providers began moving through the Senate on Thursday, but it was unclear how much of the newest proposal the state House likes. The legislature has been talking about multiple changes in the government insurance program for the poor, elderly and disabled, but the House and Senate have been far apart on the details for more than a year. This latest Senate proposal comes after months of discussions between Republicans in the two chambers. (Bonner, 8/6)

North Carolina would create a new department to run its health insurance program for the poor and disabled under a bill the Senate Health Care Committee rolled out Thursday. The measure represents the latest ante in a long-running disagreement between leaders in the Senate, the House and Gov. Pat McCrory's administration about how best to run the state's $20 billion Medicaid program. According to its authors, the reworked bill is an effort to bridge those differences. (Binker, 8/6)