Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESSRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Medicaid patients face a threat of reduced access to services — before separate changes approved within President Donald Trump’s spending-reduction law are implemented — as an impasse over state Medicaid funding extends further. GOP lawmakers couldn’t agree on a way forward this week as the two chambers failed to agree about spending on two health care projects. With the legislature next scheduled to meet Oct. 20, Stein said the state Medicaid agency couldn’t delay further to avoid deeper future reductions, and he blamed lawmakers in the process. The broad reductions range from 3% for home health and ambulance services to 10% for hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care. “They put their political disputes ahead of our people’s health,” Stein said at Alliance Medical Ministry.