Legislators look for way to ease Medicaid burden

RALEIGH (AP) - The start of state budget negotiations is usually a sign that the end of the annual legislative session isn’t too far away.

The budget talks are likely to start this coming week. But a bigger factor in when the General Assembly calls it quits this year could be the hundreds of millions of dollars the state’s 100 counties pay every year to support their residents’ participation in Medicaid, the government health-insurance program for low-income children, older adults and the disabled.