{"id":75,"date":"2026-05-13T13:36:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=75"},"modified":"2026-05-13T13:36:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:36:05","slug":"nc-budget-breakthrough-has-over-200-million-for-duke-unc-childrens-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=75","title":{"rendered":"NC budget breakthrough has over $200 million for Duke-UNC children\u2019s hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Republican legislative leaders announced Tuesday they had reached a deal<\/a> to move forward on North Carolina\u2019s long-delayed budget, including an agreement to provide $208 million for a proposed children\u2019s hospital being built by Duke Health and UNC Health.<\/p>\n

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Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters during a news conference with House Speaker Destin Hall announcing the deal that a total of $208 million would be dedicated to NC Children\u2019s, the planned pediatric hospital network led by Duke Health and UNC Health.<\/p>\n

Additionally, there\u2019s \u201can understanding that we\u2019ll continue to discuss whether or not any additional dollars\u201d will be provided, Berger said.<\/p>\n

The leaders said that now that an agreement has been reached on various budget sticking points, including the hospital funding, they can begin writing a final budget bill, which they do not expect before June.<\/p>\n

North Carolina\u2019s budget was due last June. But since the House and Senate failed to strike a deal, they have been operating at funding levels laid out in the 2023 budget.<\/p>\n

In 2023, lawmakers in the GOP-led legislature agreed to spend $320 million on NC Children\u2019s. They also agreed to spend about $420 million on what\u2019s dubbed the NC Care Initiative, a rural health program run by ECU Health, UNC Health and their medical school partners. That initiative included the establishment of three new rural clinics.<\/p>\n

Sen. Michael Lee, a Republican budget writer, told The News & Observer last September when budget talks<\/a> were falling through that the Senate was not seeking new money and wanted the House to honor the 2023 agreement that uses federal American Rescue Plan Act funds received for Medicaid expansion to fund both health initiatives.<\/p>\n

Records obtained at the time by The N&O showed the 2023 ARPA agreement mapped out spending through 2026. For the current fiscal year ending in June, the plan called for $103.5 million for NC Children\u2019s and $105 million for NC Care. NC Children\u2019s previously received over $216 million.<\/p>\n

Berger told reporters after a Senate session Tuesday that the $208 million comes from remaining funds that still needed to be paid out for the hospital, as well as money previously set aside for the NC Care Initiative.<\/p>\n

Hall, who was not the speaker in 2023, last year expressed doubts about the need to release that funding for the hospital project.<\/p>\n

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Asked Tuesday by The N&O about reaching a hospital funding deal, Hall said, \u201cWe\u2019ve met with those folks a lot, tried to learn more about the project, and so it\u2019s sort of an ongoing discussion about how to handle that particular project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the $208 million, Hall said, \u201cwe\u2019ll see if part of our deal ends up being some more funding for it. It\u2019s a big project. It\u2019s a lot of moving parts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly don\u2019t oppose a children\u2019s hospital being in the state. We\u2019ve got a few of them already. We don\u2019t oppose another one,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

But Hall said a concern he has had is that \u201cif we\u2019re going to give that kind of funding to a hospital in Apex, we need to think about the rural hospitals in particular, making sure they\u2019re getting the capital they need,\u201d specifically pointing to Martin County.<\/p>\n

Martin General Hospital shut down in August 2023. In May 2025, ECU Health announced a plan to acquire and repurpose the facility. According to reporting from NC Health News last month, ECU Health is currently seeking a $220 million<\/a> appropriation from state legislators to fund the project.<\/p>\n

Duke and UNC previously estimated the Apex-based hospital will cost approximately $3 billion and that<\/a> construction should begin in 2027, taking six years to complete.<\/p>\n

The N&O requested comment from both health systems. UNC Health spokesperson Alan Wolf said on behalf of NC Children\u2019s that \u201cwe are grateful to our state leaders for their continued support of North Carolina Children\u2019s and our shared goal of creating a brighter, healthier future for our children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to make progress toward opening the state\u2019s first independent, dedicated children\u2019s hospital and remain on track to break ground in late 2027,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

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North Carolina legislative leaders announced a budget agreement allocating money to NC Children\u2019s, backing Duke and UNC\u2019s proposed Apex pediatric hospital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nNC budget breakthrough has over $200 million for Duke-UNC children\u2019s hospital - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=75\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NC budget breakthrough has over $200 million for Duke-UNC children\u2019s hospital - 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