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This week in state politics proved to be anther busy affair with a visit from Vice President Kamala Harris, the conclusion of candidate filing, and more legislative wrangling of the still yet-to-be-expanded federal healthcare program. Clark Riemer and Rob Schofield review some of the biggest recent stories on this latest episode of The Politics Podcast.

Tucked in the new state budget is an expansion of services for families of children with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. More than 28,000 families in the state qualify for state funding for in-home care like speech or behavioral therapies.

The North Carolina Senate’s top Republican, a longtime opponent of expanding Medicaid through the 2010 federal health care law, says he’s now been willing to consider enacting expansion as part of horse-trading with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper over a state budget.

The latest budget offer that North Carolina Republicans sent to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper wouldn't expand Medicaid broadly as Cooper seeks, but it does sweeten a previous proposal on worker pay raises, a top GOP legislator says.

Most of North Carolina’s Medicaid recipients have now moved over to managed care. Starting Thursday five statewide or regional health plans are handling care for roughly 1.6 million consumers covered by government health programs for poor children, older adults and others. Other patients will join next year.

North Carolina on Thursday is officially switching to a new Medicaid system called a "managed care" model. But many of the 1.6 million people the change affects don't even know it's happening.

In a few weeks, a major health care program in North Carolina will get a total overhaul. But some Medicaid beneficiaries still have questions and concerns about the new system two weeks before it begins.

A trio of Republican state senators filed an anti-transgender bill at the state legislature this week. Another new proposal calls for political parties to get equal time in classroom lessons, and a powerful lawmaker backs legalization of medical marijuana. Clark Riemer and Aisha Dew offer analysis on some of the big political stories of the week.

Governor Roy Cooper joins the politics podcast to explain why he thinks his latest push for Medicaid expansion might yield a different result. The Democrat also reflects on the last 13 months of pandemic times and explains why he and Senate Leader Phil Berger owe it to North Carolina voters to seek middle-ground.