Durham officials warn Medicaid and SNAP funding changes could leave thousands uninsured and shutter local nutrition program

At a Durham County Board of Commissioners work session, county social services and public health officials warned that pending federal and state changes to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding could cause thousands of local residents to lose coverage and threaten the county—s longtime DINE nutrition-education program.

Maggie Clapp, director of Durham County Department of Social Services, told the board that if the state does not act to fix the hospital provider tax and related "trigger law," an estimated 17,000 Durham residents enrolled under Medicaid expansion could become uninsured. Clapp said the policy changes would also add administrative burdens, including frequent recertifications and new work requirements that could cause coverage lapses.

The potential loss of federal SNAP funding would also have large local effects, officials said. Clapp told commissioners that Durham currently provides SNAP benefits to 32,897 participants and that some state scenarios would require North Carolina to assume roughly $420,000,000 in new annual benefit costs; the state administrative share was described as an additional roughly $16,000,000. Clapp said those state-level shortfalls would in turn raise county administrative costs. "If the 25% next year is in effect, it would if we have the same numbers, we would be losing or having to come up with on our own 2,600,000.0," she said about Durham—s…