North Carolina is breaking the Medicaid budget lawmakers approved this summer because more people need health insurance coverage after losing their jobs and are getting treated for swine flu, an agency official said Tuesday.

State spending for the government health insurance program for low-income families and senior citizens — along with the disabled — is $160 million over budget so far this fiscal year as expenditures have surged nearly 9 percent compared to a year ago, Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler said.

While Cansler is hopeful moneysaving measures will take effect by Jan. 1 and level off the spending increases, he said it’s possible the extra spending could extend $200 million above the $2.3 billion budgeted for the Division of Medical Assistance to treat 1.6 million Medicaid enrollees in North Carolina. (more…)