Medicaid
Public health insurance for low-income people, jointly funded by the federal and state governments. It covers doctor visits, hospital care, prescriptions, pregnancy, and children's care. States run it under federal rules, and each state has its own name and details (California calls it Medi-Cal).
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🌟 North Carolina only recently adopted the ACA Medicaid expansion (effective December 1, 2023 — after being a non-expansion state for years, this is a recent major change), and now covers income-eligible adults 19-64 up to about 138% of the Federal Poverty Level. It is administered by the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS); you apply through ePASS (epass.nc.gov) or your County Department of Social Services (DSS). North Carolina's official current income table (marked "current until April 1, 2026") lists monthly income by family size: Adult ages 19-64, family of 1 $1,835; Child ages 0-18, family of 1 $2,807; Pregnant person, family of 1 $3,535. On immigration status (safety-critical), the official NC Medicaid page states: "To get full health care coverage through Medicaid in North Carolina if you are not a U.S. citizen, you must: Live in North Carolina, Meet the regular rules for Medicaid like age and income, and Have a qualified immigration status or a special exception." Qualified immigrants generally face a five-year waiting period (e.g., green-card holders); 🌟 but North Carolina has elected the CHIPRA Section 214 / ICHIA ("lawfully residing") option: a child under 19 with any kind of lawful immigration status (except DACA), and a pregnant person with any kind of lawful status (except DACA), can apply for full NC Medicaid without the five-year wait; refugees, asylees, and people paroled for at least one year from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Cuba, or Haiti are also not subject to the five-year bar. For people without a qualifying status, North Carolina offers Emergency Medicaid, which the state says applies regardless of status and for which "No immigration documentation is required"; an undocumented pregnant person who meets the income and residency rules can be covered for emergency services including labor and delivery, but not full Medicaid. 🔴🔴 Safety-critical points: the state explicitly says "Undocumented parents or guardians can apply for their children to get Medicaid" and "You are not considered a 'public charge' if you apply for or have Medicaid." — undocumented parents can apply for their children, and applying for or receiving Medicaid is not a public charge and does not affect the parents' own status. 🔴 Did-not-find, stated honestly: unlike California or Illinois, we did not find any North Carolina state-funded program providing full-scope Medicaid to undocumented adults or children — for people without a qualifying status, North Carolina's Medicaid pathway is Emergency Medicaid only. Do not assume the whole family is barred, and do not assume everyone qualifies for full coverage — a mixed-status household can have some members on full Medicaid (e.g., citizen or lawfully residing children) and others eligible only for emergency services. 🔴 A federal law change is scheduled to narrow immigrant Medicaid/CHIP eligibility effective October 1, 2026; because immigration rules are safety-critical and changing, verify your own household with your county DSS or through ePASS.
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Public health coverage for children in families whose income is too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private coverage. It is jointly funded by the federal and state governments (Title XXI of the Social Security Act). Each state designs and runs its own program under federal rules — as a separate CHIP, as a Medicaid-expansion CHIP, or both — so the name, income limits, and details differ by state (state eligibility levels range from about 170% to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level). Besides children, some states' separate CHIP programs also cover pregnant women.
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🔑 North Carolina's CHIP is named NC Health Choice. As of April 1, 2023, about 55,000 children formerly in NC Health Choice were moved into NC Medicaid administration — the state's own words: "On April 1, 2023, approximately 55,000 children receiving NC Health Choice coverage will move to NC Medicaid," and "North Carolina joins 17 other states who have combined Medicaid/CHIP programs for children." Because of that, this site does not give NC CHIP its own detail page; it is folded into the state's Medicaid/children page (detailPage: merged-into-medicaid). In practice, a North Carolina child is covered from the lowest incomes up to about 211% FPL — the official current income page lists children 0-18 at about 211% FPL (family of 1 $2,807), and that ceiling is the continuous coverage after Medicaid and NC Health Choice were combined. 🔴 The immigration rules are the same as NC Medicaid: the child must be a U.S. citizen or a qualified immigration status; 🌟 but North Carolina has elected CHIPRA Section 214 / ICHIA, so a lawfully residing child skips the usual five-year waiting period (a child under 19 with any lawful status except DACA can apply for full coverage), and refugees/asylees and other humanitarian categories are exempt from the five-year bar under federal rules. 🔴 Did-not-find, stated honestly: unlike New York, Illinois, or California, we found no North Carolina state-funded program covering undocumented children — undocumented children are not within CHIP/Health Choice coverage (people without status have only the Medicaid Emergency Medicaid pathway). 🔴 A child's eligibility depends on the child's own status, not the parents' — the state expressly says undocumented parents can apply for their children and that it is not a public charge. Note: North Carolina covers pregnancy through Medicaid, not CHIP (the authoritative third party NASHP: "North Carolina does not provide coverage for pregnant women through CHIP"). 🔴 A federal change is scheduled to narrow immigrant Medicaid/CHIP eligibility effective October 1, 2026; rely on the current rule and verify with your county DSS.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, "food stamps")
Monthly food benefits that help low-income households buy the food they need. Benefits come on an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card — EBT has been the sole method of SNAP issuance in all states since June 2004 — which you swipe like a bank card at authorized grocery stores. The benefit amount is based on the USDA's Thrifty Food Plan, updated each year to keep pace with food prices, and depends on your household size and how much monthly income is left after certain expenses are deducted. It is a federal program (USDA Food and Nutrition Service), but state public assistance agencies run it through their local offices — you must apply in the state where you currently live, so the application and the local name vary by state (California calls it CalFresh). Benefits generally arrive no later than 30 days after the office receives your application; households with little or no money that need help right away may get benefits within 7 days.
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North Carolina calls SNAP "Food and Nutrition Services (FNS)"; policy is set by the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), your County Department of Social Services (DSS) processes cases, and you can apply via ePASS (epass.nc.gov). 🔑 Unlike states such as Ohio that use the standard 130% federal threshold, North Carolina uses Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE) to raise the gross income limit to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level — the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS) official BBCE state chart lists North Carolina as: "All households are eligible (statement on application/recertification forms)," assets "No limit on assets," gross income limit "200%." The net income limit is still the federal standard of 100% FPL. 🔴 SNAP immigration rules are governed by the shared federal SNAP page and are safety-critical — do not rely on this row alone, and see the federal SNAP program page for the current, authoritative immigrant-eligibility framework and any statutory alerts (including the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act's narrowing of noncitizen SNAP eligibility). Because these rules are in flux and getting them wrong can jeopardize a household, verify your own eligibility with your county DSS. A member being ineligible does not necessarily bar the rest of a mixed-status household — eligible members (including U.S.-citizen children) can still receive SNAP.
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
Nutrition support for pregnancy and early childhood. In USDA's own words, WIC "serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care." Coverage runs from pregnancy until a child turns 5: pregnant women; postpartum women (up to 6 months after the end of a pregnancy); breastfeeding women (up to the infant's first birthday); infants; and children up to their fifth birthday. Every applicant first gets a free, simple health check by WIC staff, and must be individually determined to be at nutrition risk by a health professional — two major types are recognized: medically-based risks such as anemia, underweight, a history of pregnancy complications, or poor pregnancy outcomes; and dietary risks such as inappropriate feeding practices or failure to meet the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Food benefits come on an eWIC card, which works just like a debit card and can be used at WIC-approved grocery stores and farmers' markets. Benefits are not limited to food: they also include health screening, nutrition and breastfeeding counseling, immunization screening and referral, and substance abuse referral. It is a federal program (USDA), but in USDA's words, "while funded through grants from the Federal Government, WIC is administered by 89 State agencies," with services at county health departments, hospitals, schools, Indian Health Service facilities, and other clinic locations — you apply through a WIC agency in your area, so the local name and process vary. Moms, dads, foster parents, and anyone else raising kids under 5 can apply for the kids in their care.
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🌟 The federal layer leaves the immigration-status question to the states (the federal WIC rule lets a state choose whether to limit WIC by immigration status — see this program's federal rule; this row does not repeat it). North Carolina has not adopted such a limit: immigration status is not among the eligibility requirements shown on North Carolina's official WIC pages, which list being in a WIC category (pregnant women, postpartum up to 6 months, breastfeeding up to one year postpartum, infants, and children up to age five), living in North Carolina, having a family income under 185% of the poverty guidelines, and being at nutritional risk. 🔑 An honest note on how far North Carolina's own words go: unlike Texas — whose HHSC page affirmatively says "U.S. citizenship is not a requirement for eligibility" — the NCDHHS (Division of Child and Family Well-Being) WIC pages we reviewed make no such explicit statement, and we do not manufacture one (reported honestly as "not found on North Carolina's pages," not a claim that the rule is different). What the pages do state is that eligibility turns on category, residency, income, and nutritional risk, and that "You'll need to show proof of identification (ID), proof of residency, and proof of income" — no citizenship, immigration-status, or Social Security number requirement is listed. A no-immigration-status-test for WIC, WIC not being a public charge factor, and no required SSN are the federal norm (see this program's federal rule). Policy can change — call NC WIC at 1-844-601-6881, the NCDHHS Customer Service Center at 1-800-662-7030, or your local county health department WIC clinic.
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
A refundable federal tax credit for low- to moderate-income working people and families. In the IRS's words, the EITC "helps low- to moderate-income workers and families get a tax break. If you qualify, you can use the credit to reduce the taxes you owe – and maybe increase your refund." The key word is refundable — as the IRS puts it, "This is a refundable credit, so you can get back more than you pay in taxes." In plain terms: you can get money back even if you owe no tax at all. You must have earned income (wages, salary, tips, or self-employment income), and you claim it on your federal tax return — there is no separate application form, no office to visit, and no waiting list. The credit is larger if you have qualifying children, but workers without any children can also get a smaller version. For tax year 2025 (the return you file in 2026), the maximum credit is $649 with no qualifying children, $4,328 with one, $7,152 with two, and $8,046 with three or more. The tax year 2025 income cutoffs (adjusted gross income) are $19,104 (single, head of household, married filing separately, or qualifying surviving spouse) or $26,214 (married filing jointly) with no children; $50,434 / $57,554 with one child; $57,310 / $64,430 with two; and $61,555 / $68,675 with three or more. Investment income must be $11,950 or less for tax year 2025. These amounts are adjusted every year — rely on the IRS tables for the year you are actually filing. This is a purely federal program, administered directly by the IRS under one nationwide set of rules; states have no role in the federal EITC. But note: separately from this federal credit, many states and some local governments run their own state EITC, usually set as a percentage of the federal credit, varying in whether it is refundable, and sometimes with different rules — see your state's details.
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🔴🌟 The most important honest fact on this page: North Carolina currently has no state Earned Income Tax Credit — and North Carolina's reason differs from Texas's, Florida's, and Georgia's. North Carolina DOES have a state personal income tax (you file North Carolina Form D-400), and — unlike Georgia, which never created a state EITC — North Carolina once had a state EITC and then repealed it: North Carolina is the only state ever to enact and then eliminate its EITC. Per the North Carolina Department of Revenue's official "2014 Individual Income Tax Changes," before tax year 2014 the credits a taxpayer could claim included "the child tax credit, the tax credit for child care expenses, and the earned income tax credit," whereas for "Tax year 2014: Taxpayers are only allowed to claim the child tax credit" — meaning the state EITC no longer exists from tax year 2014 onward. So, unlike Ohio or Pennsylvania — which still run their own state EITC today — North Carolina now has no state EITC to stack on top of the federal one. 🔴 What this means for immigrant families: the federal EITC requires a Social Security number valid for employment for the filer, the spouse, and each qualifying child (this is a federal rule — see this program's federal rule and rely on the IRS), so a family that files with ITINs cannot claim the federal EITC; and because North Carolina now has no state EITC of its own, there is no North Carolina equivalent of California's CalEITC extending an earned-income credit to ITIN filers. We did not find any current North Carolina state earned-income credit (reported honestly as "not found," not a claim that none can exist; the legislature has seen recent proposals to reinstate a state EITC, but as far as we checked none has become law).
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a monthly federal cash payment from the Social Security Administration (SSA) for people who have very little income and few resources AND who are age 65 or older, blind, or have a qualifying disability (children can qualify too). To get SSI, your countable resources must stay under $2,000 for an individual or $3,000 for a couple. It is run directly by the federal government under one nationwide standard — the 2026 maximum federal payment is $994/month for an individual and $1,491/month for a couple — and some states add a small state supplement on top.
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🔴 The federal layer is not repeated here: federal SSI's strict non-citizen rules (the qualified-alien category, the added conditions, the five-year bar, and that recent federal law did not change SSI's non-citizen rules) live on the shared ssi program page. This row carries only what is specific to North Carolina and answers the key question honestly: does North Carolina have a California-CAPI-style cash route for aged/blind/disabled immigrants who are shut out of federal SSI by immigration status? On the official sources we checked, we did not find one. (1) North Carolina does not add a broad SSA-administered state SSI supplement the way California (SSP) or New York (SSP) do. (2) North Carolina's own state-and-county-funded cash program for aged, blind, or disabled adults is State-County Special Assistance (SA), created by N.C. General Statutes 108A-40 through 108A-42.1 and administered by county Departments of Social Services (DSS). SA is not a general top-up for everyone on SSI: G.S. 108A-41 grants it to a person who is 65 or older, or 18-65 and permanently and totally disabled or legally blind, who needs an adult care home or special care unit placement or an in-home living arrangement, has insufficient income, and has been a North Carolina resident for at least 90 days before applying. The maximum monthly SA rate is set by G.S. 108A-42.1 — $1,285 for adult care homes or in-home arrangements without an Alzheimer's/dementia diagnosis, and $1,647 for special care units or in-home arrangements with such a diagnosis — adjusted each January 1 (from January 1, 2024) by the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). (3) 🔴 Immigration and SA, stated honestly: the SA statutes we read set age, disability, income, and a 90-day residency test, but do not themselves spell out a citizenship/immigration rule; whether a given non-citizen qualifies for SA is governed by the county DSS Special Assistance policy manual and federal "qualified alien" rules, which we could not ground word-for-word here — so we do not invent a status rule we did not verify, and you should confirm your own eligibility with your county DSS. 🔴 Do not confuse cash with medical: North Carolina is an SSI-criteria (1634) state, so people who do receive SSI get automatic NC Medicaid (see this site's NC Medicaid page), but that is health coverage, not cash. If SSA denies you SSI because of immigration status, we did not find a California-CAPI-style state cash program in North Carolina to fall back on — verify your own situation with SSA, and SA with your county DSS.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) gives time-limited monthly cash assistance and work supports to low-income families with children, to help them achieve economic security and stability. The federal government sends each state a block grant, and each state designs and runs its own TANF program under its own name (California calls it CalWORKs) with its own benefit amounts and rules. States set the monthly cash amount, add work-participation requirements, and set time limits within the federal 60-month (5-year) lifetime cap on federally funded assistance. Besides the monthly cash grant, TANF also funds services such as childcare, job training, and transportation.
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🔴 The federal layer is not repeated here: federal TANF's non-citizen framework (the PRWORA qualified-alien categories, the general five-year bar that applies to many qualified immigrants, and the federal exceptions for refugees, asylees, and similar humanitarian statuses) lives on the shared tanf program page. This row carries only what is specific to North Carolina. North Carolina's TANF program is Work First Family Assistance (WFFA), with policy set by the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) Division of Social Services and delivery through your County Department of Social Services (DSS) and ePASS. 🌟 On immigration, North Carolina's own statute is unusually clear and favorable: N.C. General Statutes 108A-27(h) provides that the Department and Electing Counties "shall provide Work First Program assistance to qualified immigrants on the same basis as citizens to the extent permitted by federal law." In plain terms, a qualified immigrant who meets the federal rules is served on the same footing as a citizen — North Carolina does not layer an extra state hurdle on top of the federal qualified-alien rules. Citizenship/alien status is one of the eligibility factors the county DSS checks, alongside the presence of a minor child (or pregnancy), income, and the work requirements. 🔴 What we did not find: unlike a handful of states, we did not find a North Carolina state-funded cash program that covers families who are not "qualified" under the federal rules (for example, undocumented parents) — so do not assume the whole family qualifies, and do not assume the whole family is barred. A mixed-status household is common: a citizen or lawfully-present child can be the eligible child in a Work First case even when a parent is not eligible for themselves. Because immigration rules are safety-critical, verify your own household with your county DSS or through ePASS.
Unemployment Insurance (UI)
Unemployment Insurance is temporary weekly cash paid to workers who lost their job through no fault of their own, to help you get by while you look for the next one. It is funded by taxes paid by employers (federal FUTA and state SUTA) — workers generally do not pay into it. It is a joint federal-state program: each state runs its own unemployment insurance program under shared federal rules, so eligibility, the weekly amount, and how many weeks you can receive vary by state. You apply in the state where you worked. To qualify you generally must be unemployed through no fault of your own, meet a work-and-wages threshold in a "base period," and be currently able to work, available to work right away, and actively looking for work. The first payment usually arrives two to three weeks after you file.
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🔴 The federal layer is not repeated here: why unemployment insurance (UI) is generally not subject to the PRWORA five-year bar (it is an earned insurance benefit funded by employer taxes, not a means-tested welfare program), and the federal work-authorization framework, both live on the shared unemployment program page. This row carries only North Carolina execution details. North Carolina UI is administered by the NC Division of Employment Security (DES); you file at des.nc.gov. 🌟 North Carolina is among the least generous UI states in the country, so the honest numbers matter: the weekly benefit amount is the wages paid to you in the last two completed quarters of your base period divided by 52, rounded down, and it may not exceed $350 per week (N.C. Gen. Stat. 96-14.2); if that figure comes out under $15 you are not eligible. The number of weeks you can draw is not a flat 26 — it slides from 12 to 20 weeks depending on the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate, and at a low unemployment rate the maximum is only 12 weeks (N.C. Gen. Stat. 96-14.3). To have a valid claim you must have been paid wages in at least two quarters of your base period and have base-period wages totaling at least six times the average weekly insured wage (N.C. Gen. Stat. 96-14.1). 🔴🔴 On immigration (safety-critical): UI is tied to lawful work authorization, not to means-tested welfare rules — under N.C. Gen. Stat. 96-14.1(e)(5), benefits are not payable based on services performed by aliens except to the extent allowed by federal law (section 3304 of the Internal Revenue Code), which in practice means the wages must have been earned while you were authorized to work and you must be authorized and available to work now. Because it is an earned benefit rather than a means-tested one, unemployment insurance is generally treated differently from welfare in immigration analysis; the public-charge question is handled on the canonical program/USCIS layer, not asserted here — verify your own case with an immigration attorney. Amounts and duration change with the statewide unemployment rate and with law — rely on the latest DES guidance.
Section 8 / Housing Choice Voucher
The Housing Choice Voucher — commonly called "Section 8" — is federal rental assistance that helps very-low-income families, the elderly, and people with disabilities rent decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. The funds come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the program is run locally by public housing agencies (PHAs), usually state or local government entities. You find your own rental unit that meets program housing-quality standards; after the PHA approves the unit and tenancy, it pays the rent subsidy directly to the landlord. If the rent is at or below the local "payment standard," you generally pay about 30 percent of your adjusted monthly income toward rent, and the subsidy covers the rest. It is the nation's largest rental-assistance program, helping about 2.3 million families. Because funding is limited, many areas keep a waiting list.
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🔴 There is no separate North Carolina state immigrant rule for Section 8, because there is no statewide North Carolina Section 8 — each of North Carolina's local PHAs applies HUD's federal noncitizen rules. Those federal rules (at least one household member must have an eligible immigration status, and "mixed" families can receive prorated assistance rather than being turned away entirely) live on this program's shared federal page and are not repeated here. As HUD states for North Carolina, a Public Housing Authority determines Housing Choice Voucher eligibility "based on the total annual gross income and family size, U.S. citizenship and specified categories of non-citizens who have eligible immigration status," and to apply you "contact your local Public Housing Authority"; you can find North Carolina's list of PHAs on HUD's North Carolina page or by calling (800) 955-2232. 🌟 We did not find a currently operating North Carolina state-level rental-voucher program with a broader-than-federal immigrant rule to add here: North Carolina's state housing finance agency, the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, is a housing-finance and development agency, not a state-funded voucher with a broader immigrant rule. This row therefore claims no state expansion beyond the federal rule. Rely on your local PHA for how status is verified.
LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program)
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) helps low-income households pay their home energy costs — mainly heating (winter) and cooling (summer) bills, plus energy-crisis aid (for example, when you face a shutoff or need reconnection), light home weatherization, and minor heating-equipment repair or replacement. It is a federally funded block grant managed by the Office of Community Services within HHS (HHS/ACF/OCS), and then run by each state, territory, and tribe, which set their own eligibility rules and application process. 🔴 LIHEAP does not send cash directly to individuals and never charges a fee; you apply through your state's or tribe's energy-assistance agency. The federal income ceiling is 150% of the poverty level, or 60% of state median income if that is higher; many states also grant "categorical eligibility" to households that receive TANF, SSI, SNAP, or needs-tested veterans' benefits.
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🔴🔴 Safety-critical, verified against the official page's verbatim text: North Carolina's LIEAP eligibility does condition on immigration status, but it is worded in a way that protects mixed-status households. Among its eligibility requirements, NCDHHS's official LIEAP page states that an eligible household must "Have at least one U.S. citizen or non-citizen who meets the eligibility criteria," and must also "Meet an income test" and "Be responsible for its heating costs"; its documents list asks for "Verification of citizenship/alien status." The federal "qualified alien" framework lives on this program's shared federal page and is not repeated here. 🔴 Two facts guard against the "second error" (wrongly scaring off families who can in fact be helped): (1) The requirement is that the household have at least one qualifying citizen or non-citizen — in other words, it does not require every household member to have status; so having one member without status does not automatically shut the household out, as long as at least one member meets the citizen / qualified-non-citizen criteria. (2) LIEAP is not a cash program: NCDHHS describes it as "a one-time vendor payment," and the payment generally goes directly to your energy vendor. 🔴 Did-not-find, stated honestly: we did not find on NCDHHS's official LIEAP page an explicit statement that the program "is not a law enforcement program." Because status handling here is safety-critical, do not assume the whole family is barred and do not assume it is unaffected — verify your own household's situation with your county Department of Social Services (DSS).
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