Edwards served three terms in the N.C. Senate before being elected to Congress in 2022. He’s a businessman who owns four McDonalds franchises.
A Hendersonville businessman and civic leader, Edwards previously served three terms in the North Carolina Senate beginning in 2016. There, he served on 18 committees – chairing eight of them. In November 2022, Chuck was elected to Congress. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Edwards had the rare honor as a freshman of being selected to sit on the Appropriations Committee and the Budget Committee. Chuck and his wife, Teresa, live in Flat Rock, NC.
Our Q&A with Chuck Edwards
NC Health News reached out to Chuck Edwards multiple times without receiving a response. So, we researched each candidate who did not provide answers by searching their voting records (where applicable) and social media, going to events, tracking their public comments, searching their campaign websites and conducting searches of other media outlets.
What would be your plan for ensuring the future security/ strength of Medicare?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
What would you support in Congress as a plan to help control health care/ pharmaceutical costs?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
Where do you stand on time limits for Medicaid and work requirements for the program?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
For years, Edwards was one of the members of the legislature who opposed expanding Medicaid for low income North Carolinians, but in a constituent newsletter, he wrote about how he changed his mind.
“Due to the promise from our federal government for billions more in Medicaid payments, it is now fiscally irresponsible for NC to not consider the benefits,” he wrote in his weekly newsletter. “For the last six years, I’ve heard from constituents on both sides of this issue and until now I’ve resisted the deal Washington, D.C., has offered states to expand.”
The federal government continues to offer up”sweeteners” to states that haven’t expanded Medicaid under the ACA and, with an additional 5 percent federal cost-share for NC’s traditional Medicaid enrollees upon expansion, it has become good state fiscal policy.
“What this means to our state is a $1.5 billion cash injection into our general fund. Then about $4.8 billion more in Medicaid payments made annually to our state, plus another $3.2 billion annually for our struggling rural hospitals, and about $45 million annually for local governments.”
He did not mention work requirements in his newsletter.
What can the federal government do to support rural hospitals?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
In the same newsletter cited above, Edwards noted that the Medicaid expansion bill, “expands access to health insurance while addressing regulations that prevent providers from practicing and removing barriers that drive up costs. Because of the expansion of Medicaid, our state budget will be stronger and the longevity of our rural hospitals will be better protected. Now is the time to make this change, before we are forced to do it in the future.”
In a 2023 interview with the Asheville Watchdog, Edwards claimed that the “failures of Obamacare” lead to the decline in services at Asheville’s Mission hospital and the other rural hospitals in the Mission system.
“Edwards said the law ‘imposed enormous regulations on hospitals’ and forced many into financial distress, including Mission in Asheville and its affiliated Transylvania Hospital in Brevard, that publication noted.
Once Edwards reached Washington, he requested $3,000,000 in funding for Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital, Murphy, NC – Facility Upgrades project
“Funding for this project would be used to consolidate six existing outpatient clinics (1 Urgent Care, 2 Primary Care, 1 Urology, 1 Ortho, 1 General Surgery) into a single location on the main hospital campus, in a facility formerly occupied by a nursing home,” said a release on his Congressional website. “The new clinic would create 20,000 square feet of patient care areas, as well as lab and radiology services. This funding would also allow EWCH to establish a cardiac catheterization lab at the hospital.”
Where do you stand on restoring funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
Edwards voted against an extension of the program.
PFAS contamination is a country-wide issue; How do you balance public safety and business interests with this issue?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
Is the federal government ready for the next pandemic?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
In 2009, Congress required more transparency from hospitals on their charitable work . Do you think the federal government should enforce stricter requirements for nonprofit hospitals to justify their tax exemptions? Why or why not?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
Where do you stand on federal abortion limits? What gestational limits, if any, would you set?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
Edwards has an A+ rating from the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group. He voted in favor of all the bills supported by the group since arriving in Washington.
How can Congress improve access to child care? What states are leading the way that you think could be a good federal model? Support for the EITC/ child care tax credit?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
What steps would you take to improve access to mental health services and to address the opioid overdose crisis?
Edwards’ campaign did not answer this question.
Any other issues you’d like to weigh in on?
In an message posted to X (Twitter) on August 24, Edwards said, “The U.S. is seeing a surge in hospital mergers, resulting in increased federal health spending and higher patient costs, and yet patients are experiencing lower quality of care. We’ve seen this right here in our mountains and as a member of @housebudgetGOP and @HouseAppropsGOP,, it’s my mission to promote policies and funding that disincentive consolidation and promote greater choice, more affordable access and better quality of care for the citizens of #NC11 and beyond.”