Opinion
What North Carolina can learn from Tennessee about healthcare
These reforms are not simply about insurance or pharmacy regulations. They are about whether patients retaining meaningful choices in their care.
Opinion
The ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ broke Medicare for NC seniors
North Carolina seniors will soon be hit with higher health care bills. Between 2023 and 2025, Medicare Part D drug plan premiums rose by 28% for North Carolina seniors. And some will see an even steeper jump this January. The blame falls squarely on the former Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which has effectively...
Opinion
Socializing healthcare won’t end scarcity
In government-run systems, that scarcity doesn't go away. It's just that bureaucrats and government boards, rather than insurance companies, decide what is covered and what is not.
Opinion
NC’s Novo Nordisk in Bernie Sanders’ bullseye
Folwell is right that these weight-loss drugs strain budgets at the current price. But the sky-high prices are due to PBMs not drug companies.
News
New Medicare Advantage contract ends premiums for state retirees without adding costs to taxpayers
State retirees and their dependents beginning next year won’t pay premiums on Medicare Advantage plans. The State Health Plan awarded Humana a new contract that will save taxpayers $590 million over three years. The savings will allow the State Health Plan to erase retirees’ monthly premiums for Medicare Advantage plans, State Treasurer Dale Folwell announced...
News
Folwell will push pension solvency plan with Senate leaders
State Treasurer Dale Folwell hopes the General Assembly will build on its recent boost in the state’s Rainy Day Fund with a plan to make state pensions and health benefits more solvent. House Bill 651 would reduce tens of billions of dollars in long-term debt by creating an Unfunded Liability Solvency Reserve fund. The measure passed...
News
Treasurer renegotiating State Health Plan contracts
The number of state employees and retirees purchasing Medicare Advantage plans might rise from 111,000 to 130,000 in the coming year, but they are facing as much as a 26 percent increase in their premiums. That was the message from state Treasurer Dale Folwell on Tuesday during his monthly “Ask Me Anything” teleconference series with reporters....
Opinion
North Carolina’s Dwindling Obamacare Options
The irony of Obamacare is that its health insurance exchanges are suffering from a problem that was supposed to be avoided – what health economists call adverse selection. When health insurance plans must cover people with pre-existing conditions and they are not allowed to charge premiums that reflect the risk of those conditions, then people...
News
Analysts: United Healthcare’s Exit From N.C. Obamacare Exchange Ominous
Concerns about a potential Obamacare death spiral and rapidly escalating insurance premium costs reignited with Tuesday’s announcement by UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest insurance company, that in 2017 it would pull out of most of the nation’s health exchanges — including North Carolina’s. Since Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has not ruled out...
Opinion
Practice A New Approach
With Medicare and Medicaid presenting huge fiscal challenges, policymakers should consider more-efficient ways to deliver services to the elderly and disabled.
Opinion
The Urge to Merge: A Splurge?
An odd confluence of events Monday had several major corporations with North Carolina ties acquiring or merging with other companies. Some are crying foul -- of course.
