Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Julie Havlak. Lawmakers are fighting to help small businesses afford health insurance, but they're running out of time. As the pandemic and the shutdowns wreck the economy, thousands of North Carolinians continue to lose their insurance. North Carolina has nearly 1.2 million uninsured residents. Gov. Roy Cooper and his allies are pushing Medicaid expansion as the solution. But Republicans are skeptical, and they want other reforms. Medicaid expansion receded into the background during the second meeting of the N.C. Council for Health Care Coverage on Friday, Dec. 18. Cooper filled the first meeting with reasons to expand Medicaid to cover low-income, childless adults. But after Republicans criticized the first meeting, the council turned its focus to other policies.