A group of residents from western North Carolina filed a lawsuit Tuesday, Aug. 10, against HCA Healthcare and Mission Health alleging the anti-competitive business practices have driven medical prices up and the quality of health care down in that part of the state. HCA is based in Nashville, Tennessee,…
A bill that would allow North Carolina State Health Plan administrators to see the prices of surgeries and other medical care advanced in the N.C. House on Tuesday. H.B. 169 allows the Health Plan access to its claims payment data and negotiated rates. The State Health Plan provides insurance coverage…
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has just been re-elected. It’s an outcome his two immediate predecessors, Democrat Bev Perdue and Republican Pat McCrory, were unable to accomplish. A sweet as that victory must taste to the governor and his team, his ability to convert the ballots North Carolinians cast in…
Republicans can take a breath, even if their signature red is mixed with myriad shades of blue. They keep control of the N.C. Council of State, 6-4, albeit with narrow margins in all the races. The results remain unofficial. Elections officials are dealing with 41,000 provisional…
Democrats never had a clue, I think, how poorly they handled the protests over the summer and fall that, all too frequently, devolved into destructive riots.
Public employees understandably care a great deal about who is managing their retirement savings and health plan, but all North Carolinians have a stake in the outcome.
Dale Owen has been called many things, depending on who’s talking. He’s a cardiologist with a “bullseye” on his back, who is fighting to resurrect a dinosaur: independent, doctor-owned practices. Last year, he led 88 doctors away from Atrium Health, North Carolina’s behemoth hospital system. This…
Although some activists wish Dale Folwell in the worst in his battle with hospitals, plenty of others across the political spectrum recognize that without reform both taxpayers and public employees will pay much more.
The largest physicians group in eastern North Carolina has agreed to participate in State Treasurer Dale Folwell’s cost-saving Clear Pricing Project. ECU Physicians, the medical practice of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, has signed a contract to…
Just when things were going so well. … Since 2011, the Republican-led General Assembly has restrained the growth of government, brought spending in line with revenue, paid down debt, put more money in savings than ever, and restored voter approval for new debt.
