North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell gave more insight Tuesday as to why the State Health Plan decided to end coverage of popular weight loss drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, as of April 1. During the Council of State meeting, he said the drugs had the potential of costing the SHP $170 million this year for 22,000 people. He said it would be the same cost as a 4% bonus to 253,000 employees and would double the individual premium for everyone else on the state health plan from $25 to $50.
According to North Carolina Department of Public Instruction 2022-2023 assessment data, there is not a single assessed subject in which even 40% of North Carolina’s students with disabilities scored “Grade Level Proficient” or above. Stated another way, in 2022-2023, 84.3% of North Carolina’s students with disabilities could not read proficiently in grades 3 through 8,...
Party nominations for North Carolina’s 2024 elections are, for the most part, decided. Just four races remain to be settled in runoffs on May 14. So, would you say you’re generally satisfied or dissatisfied with our primaries this year? Here’s my answer to the question: I’m deeply disappointed. It’s not that all the candidates I...
As Russia’s full-scale war against the independent country of Ukraine approaches its 20th month, the role of the United States in arming, training, and funding the Ukrainians has become a point of contention between Joe Biden and some of his potential GOP opponents, as well as among Republicans on Capitol Hill. Does the issue deserve...
House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters last week that the North Carolina General Assembly is unlikely to craft and approve a state budget deal before Labor Day. That’s more than two months into the 2023-24 fiscal year that began July 1. The good news is that, in stark contrast to the rules of the federal...
Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled his plan Wednesday that will put $1 billion into addressing North Carolina’s mental health and substance use crisis. His budget proposal will be released in the coming days and will include the investments detailed in the Mental Health Plan.
A new working paper published in the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that the link between Medicaid expansion and improved rates of adult mortality is not as clear as previous research has suggested.
Asheville’s Mission Hospital will soon have a new competitor in Western North Carolina. That’s good news: when a single hospital system dominates a market, that rarely works to the advantage of patients, employers, or physicians. The bad news here, however, is that it was a state agency that chose which hospital network will build the...
I’m a fiscally conservative North Carolinian — and I think state taxes should be significantly higher. No, I haven’t lost my head, or my spine. And while I’m a committed supply-sider, I’m not referring here to projected revenues from a fast-growing economy. I truly mean North Carolina ought to levy higher state taxes. But only...
Republicans believe their decade long reforms to Medicaid have made the program more manageable. They now think Congress is locked in to paying for 90% of the program in perpetuity. However, there are challenges to enacting Medicaid Expansion even though the Governor and both GOP leaders in the State House and State Senate now agree in principle on Medicaid expansion.
Nothing turns out voters like climbing inflation and $5 a gallon gas. This year a 20% primary turnout represents the highest rate in the last 30 years of N.C. primary elections. The only higher turnout was 2002, the year after 9/11. In a new twist, unaffiliated voters are now N.C.’s single largest voting population and,...
