Your Public Square Disclosing what is True, what is Real
The NC House: Hospitals are Too Important to Fail, but Taxpayers are Too Unimportant to Save Them Money
Those who voted AGAINST the bill (Republican and Democrat) are:
Democrats: Reps Terence Everitt, Elmer Floyd, Charles Graham, Joe John, Carolyn Logan, Nasif Majeed, William Richardson, Raymond Smith, and Michael Wray.
Republicans: Jay Adams, Hugh Blackwell, Mark Brody, Dana Bumgardner, George Cleveland (Onslow), Debra Conrad, Ed Goodwin (Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Washington), Destin Hall, Kyle Hall, Jon Hardister, Pat Hurley, Brenden Jones, Keith Kidwell (Beaufort), Pat McElraft (Carteret, Jones), Allen McNeill, Larry Pittman (Cabarrus), Michelle Presnell, Dennis Riddell, David Rogers, Stephen Ross, Jason Saine, John Sauls, Phil Shepard (Onslow), Michael Speciale (Craven), Larry Strickland; Larry Yarborough, Lee Zachary
House Speaker Tim Moore did not vote.
[If you'd like to hear the whole debate, you can go to the NC General Assembly website (www.ncleg.gov). NC House sessions are archived].
If you are OPPOSED to this bill and do NOT want the NC General Assembly to pass it, make sure you CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR ASAP !!
Contact information is available from the NC General Assembly website - www.ncleg.gov.
III. CONSERVATIVE POLICY THINK-TANK GROUPS and OTHER CONSERVATIVE GROUPS STRONGLY OPPPOSE HB-184
As mentioned earlier, state employees, retirees, and taxpayers are not the only ones who have been opposed to this bill. State conservative policy organizations, conservative policy think-tank organizations, conservative talk-radio shows, conservative journals, conservative bloggers, and grassroots conservative groups are united against it as well. They are doing their best to counter the lies, deceptions, and scare tactics being told by the big wealthy hospitals, the Partnership for Innovation in Healthcare, other lobbyists and interested groups and present the truth and the reality to those who will ultimately be burdened with HB-184 and the increased costs incurred by not allowing Treasurer Folwell to enact meaningful changes and reforms to the system.
The Civitas Institute, for one, thought the bill so bad and so burdensome to the inherent right of the people to keep as much of the money they earn as possible (News flash, folks - this is called "fiscal conservatism." Allowing people to keep the money they earn, reducing taxes, being fiscally responsible - these are essential and core principles of conservatism) that it decided to take as strong a public stand as it could. Besides the many articles it has written outing HB-184 for the bad bill it is, and besides the comments and advice its policy experts have given to those around the state about it, Civitas decided to include the bill in its "grading system." Civitas grades each North Carolina legislator for "conservatism" in his or her voting record and makes their results available to the public. Conservative organizations, church groups, and voters rely on Civitas' ratings when they consider which candidate to help promote, or to vote for, and those legislators who seek to hold on to their seats often are conscientious of their rating in order to win re-election. How Civitas rates a legislator matters. The grading will either bolster or detract from their overall "conservative" rating.
Here is Civitas' position on HB-184 (per president Donald Bryon's statement):
Elected by the citizens of North Carolina, the State Treasurer SHOULD be allowed to explore solutions to current problems with the State Health Plan, consistent with his statutory and constitutional authority. Instead, HB 184 gives power to a study committee that primarily consists of special interest groups with monied interests in maintaining a lucrative State Health Plan at the expense of taxpayers - namely the North Carolina Healthcare Association (formerly the North Carolina Hospital Association).
The State Health Plan, as currently structured is unsustainable. Years of inaction cannot be rectified through continued inaction. The General Assembly may wish to study an issue on which it may desire to take future action. It is fiscally irresponsible, however, to waste two years with no corrective action when there are only four years until the State Health Plan is fiscally insolvent.
As long as the reform process is derailed, and corrective actions are prohibited by HB-184, the vote to defend freedom is NO.
Civitas Action intends to grade any vote regarding HB-184 in the House or Senate.
Just as Civitas is holding House legislators accountable for their votes on HB-184, it will do the same for NC Senator as well.
While Civitas and John Locke are doing their part in getting the truth out, while talk-radio personalities are doing their best on air to get the truth out, and while conservative writers and bloggers are using their pens to get the truth out, some of the most vocal and powerful commentary is coming from taxpayers and from those who are state employees. For example, Jonathan Merritt, a state employee and activist in Onslow County put a post on social media that is getting a lot of attention. He wrote:
Unlike many who are posting in favor of HB-184 and claim to know what they are talking about, I really DO understand how insurance works. But what everyone seems to be overlooking is that insurance thru the State Health Plan is a benefit that is offered to STATE EMPLOYEES only - as part of a package that allows them to accept positions of employment at a much lower salary than in the private sector. I will give you an example: I work for the state for just over $60,000/year. I left the private sector for this particular state job for reasons that include my age, family concerns, work environment, schedule, and benefits (including healthcare). If I left to go back to the private sector, I would be paid $80,000 - easily, or if I chose to be self-employed, I might be able to earn over $100,000. But in the private sector I wouldn't get the same excellent healthcare plan and as a self-employed family man, I'd have to pay handsomely for such a plan.
If, as those legislators who support HB-184 would have it, I am being hit to provide others a lower premium or less out-of-pocket costs, at what point does it become more feasible to leave state employment and go back into private or self-employment?
These benefits to state employees are contracted. They aren't contracted to the uninsured. If the State Health Plan is being raided to compensate for other insurers and/or to compensate for non-payment, or to cover the expenses of those not insured, then the state will quickly lose its resources. Otherwise, individuals will no longer see being a state employee as beneficial.
Again, check out Dale Folwell's presentation on the State Health Plan and the State Pension Plan, "The Price of Promises" - https://www.johnlocke.org/event/the-price-of-promises-2/ . He begins talking about the State Health Plan at time 12:30 ]
IV. CONCLUSION
HB-184 is a bad bill. It is bad for North Carolina. It is bad for state employees and retirees (including current and retired teachers, firefighters, state troopers, and many more). And it is bad for taxpayers. It is not only bad in what it seeks to achieve (to put big hospitals in a position of power in addressing the State Health Plan) but it is bad in what it does to achieve that goal (removing the office in charge of the Plan, the State Treasurer - Dale Folwell, completely from that task). We shouldn't put up with such duplicity.
To summarize the situation in a nutshell: State Treasurer Dale Folwell has come up with a plan, the Clear Pricing Plan, to control costs in the State Health Plan. Taking effect in 2020, it would change reimbursement rates on the State Health Plan and implement a reference-based pricing model. In other words, there will be no more price gauging and no more inflating costs to the Plan by hospitals to make up for losses incurred by non-state employees (ie, those receiving healthcare without insurance, including illegals). New legislation, HB-184, was quickly introduced in the NC General Assembly for one purpose only - to block implementation of Folwell's plan. It passed the NC House on Wednesday, April 3 and has already been sent to the NC Senate.
By trying to take authority away from Dale Folwell, the duly-elected state Treasurer tasked with managing the State Health Plan (and the State Pension Plan), for purely political and self-interested reasons, the powers that be (the big state hospitals, their lobbyist groups, and the legislators in bed with them) are attempting a political coup, with free access to everyone's pocketbook as the goal. Make no mistake, HB-184 is all about picking "winners and losers" in North Carolina. The hospitals are determined to be the winners and we the taxpayers and state employees and retirees will be the losers.
The State Employees Association of North Carolina does not understand why the hospitals and why state legislators are so opposed to the rightful and reasonable expectation of transparency and accountability in how taxpayer money is spent with respect to the State Health Plan. Why are they so opposed to Treasurer Folwell continuing in his effort (a responsibility specifically tasked to the State Treasurer) to reform the failing Plan and to saving everyone money? SEANC spokeswoman Ardis Watkins commented: "It seems like the most traditionally American thing there is to demand that our government not be irresponsible with tax dollars or support monopolies that hurt the working people of this country."
I want to end this article by re-emphasizing what Donald Bryson, president of Civitas wrote in his article "State Health Plan Fight: Follow the Money, Part 2." He wrote: "The Treasurer's plan is not necessarily a silver bullet, but the unfunded liability is at least 130% larger than our state government's annual budget. Jones Street needs solutions before we bankrupt ourselves."
We have to nip this bad bill in this bud. We must take back the control we have over our purses and the finances of our state and not buy into the argument that big business/ big hospitals and special interests should substitute themselves for our places at the table. We MUST share this information with our friends and family. We must get the word out about HB-184. We MUST contact our state senators and tell them to vote NO on the bill. Because the next fight in the General Assembly this session is going to be about Medicaid expansion about how we will have to pay for that.
CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR & TELL HIM OR HER TO VOTE "NO" ON HB-184.
Go Back
Democrats: Reps Terence Everitt, Elmer Floyd, Charles Graham, Joe John, Carolyn Logan, Nasif Majeed, William Richardson, Raymond Smith, and Michael Wray.
Republicans: Jay Adams, Hugh Blackwell, Mark Brody, Dana Bumgardner, George Cleveland (Onslow), Debra Conrad, Ed Goodwin (Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Washington), Destin Hall, Kyle Hall, Jon Hardister, Pat Hurley, Brenden Jones, Keith Kidwell (Beaufort), Pat McElraft (Carteret, Jones), Allen McNeill, Larry Pittman (Cabarrus), Michelle Presnell, Dennis Riddell, David Rogers, Stephen Ross, Jason Saine, John Sauls, Phil Shepard (Onslow), Michael Speciale (Craven), Larry Strickland; Larry Yarborough, Lee Zachary
House Speaker Tim Moore did not vote.
[If you'd like to hear the whole debate, you can go to the NC General Assembly website (www.ncleg.gov). NC House sessions are archived].
If you are OPPOSED to this bill and do NOT want the NC General Assembly to pass it, make sure you CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR ASAP !!
Contact information is available from the NC General Assembly website - www.ncleg.gov.
III. CONSERVATIVE POLICY THINK-TANK GROUPS and OTHER CONSERVATIVE GROUPS STRONGLY OPPPOSE HB-184
As mentioned earlier, state employees, retirees, and taxpayers are not the only ones who have been opposed to this bill. State conservative policy organizations, conservative policy think-tank organizations, conservative talk-radio shows, conservative journals, conservative bloggers, and grassroots conservative groups are united against it as well. They are doing their best to counter the lies, deceptions, and scare tactics being told by the big wealthy hospitals, the Partnership for Innovation in Healthcare, other lobbyists and interested groups and present the truth and the reality to those who will ultimately be burdened with HB-184 and the increased costs incurred by not allowing Treasurer Folwell to enact meaningful changes and reforms to the system.
The Civitas Institute, for one, thought the bill so bad and so burdensome to the inherent right of the people to keep as much of the money they earn as possible (News flash, folks - this is called "fiscal conservatism." Allowing people to keep the money they earn, reducing taxes, being fiscally responsible - these are essential and core principles of conservatism) that it decided to take as strong a public stand as it could. Besides the many articles it has written outing HB-184 for the bad bill it is, and besides the comments and advice its policy experts have given to those around the state about it, Civitas decided to include the bill in its "grading system." Civitas grades each North Carolina legislator for "conservatism" in his or her voting record and makes their results available to the public. Conservative organizations, church groups, and voters rely on Civitas' ratings when they consider which candidate to help promote, or to vote for, and those legislators who seek to hold on to their seats often are conscientious of their rating in order to win re-election. How Civitas rates a legislator matters. The grading will either bolster or detract from their overall "conservative" rating.
Here is Civitas' position on HB-184 (per president Donald Bryon's statement):
Elected by the citizens of North Carolina, the State Treasurer SHOULD be allowed to explore solutions to current problems with the State Health Plan, consistent with his statutory and constitutional authority. Instead, HB 184 gives power to a study committee that primarily consists of special interest groups with monied interests in maintaining a lucrative State Health Plan at the expense of taxpayers - namely the North Carolina Healthcare Association (formerly the North Carolina Hospital Association).
The State Health Plan, as currently structured is unsustainable. Years of inaction cannot be rectified through continued inaction. The General Assembly may wish to study an issue on which it may desire to take future action. It is fiscally irresponsible, however, to waste two years with no corrective action when there are only four years until the State Health Plan is fiscally insolvent.
As long as the reform process is derailed, and corrective actions are prohibited by HB-184, the vote to defend freedom is NO.
Civitas Action intends to grade any vote regarding HB-184 in the House or Senate.
Just as Civitas is holding House legislators accountable for their votes on HB-184, it will do the same for NC Senator as well.
While Civitas and John Locke are doing their part in getting the truth out, while talk-radio personalities are doing their best on air to get the truth out, and while conservative writers and bloggers are using their pens to get the truth out, some of the most vocal and powerful commentary is coming from taxpayers and from those who are state employees. For example, Jonathan Merritt, a state employee and activist in Onslow County put a post on social media that is getting a lot of attention. He wrote:
Unlike many who are posting in favor of HB-184 and claim to know what they are talking about, I really DO understand how insurance works. But what everyone seems to be overlooking is that insurance thru the State Health Plan is a benefit that is offered to STATE EMPLOYEES only - as part of a package that allows them to accept positions of employment at a much lower salary than in the private sector. I will give you an example: I work for the state for just over $60,000/year. I left the private sector for this particular state job for reasons that include my age, family concerns, work environment, schedule, and benefits (including healthcare). If I left to go back to the private sector, I would be paid $80,000 - easily, or if I chose to be self-employed, I might be able to earn over $100,000. But in the private sector I wouldn't get the same excellent healthcare plan and as a self-employed family man, I'd have to pay handsomely for such a plan.
If, as those legislators who support HB-184 would have it, I am being hit to provide others a lower premium or less out-of-pocket costs, at what point does it become more feasible to leave state employment and go back into private or self-employment?
These benefits to state employees are contracted. They aren't contracted to the uninsured. If the State Health Plan is being raided to compensate for other insurers and/or to compensate for non-payment, or to cover the expenses of those not insured, then the state will quickly lose its resources. Otherwise, individuals will no longer see being a state employee as beneficial.
Again, check out Dale Folwell's presentation on the State Health Plan and the State Pension Plan, "The Price of Promises" - https://www.johnlocke.org/event/the-price-of-promises-2/ . He begins talking about the State Health Plan at time 12:30 ]
IV. CONCLUSION
HB-184 is a bad bill. It is bad for North Carolina. It is bad for state employees and retirees (including current and retired teachers, firefighters, state troopers, and many more). And it is bad for taxpayers. It is not only bad in what it seeks to achieve (to put big hospitals in a position of power in addressing the State Health Plan) but it is bad in what it does to achieve that goal (removing the office in charge of the Plan, the State Treasurer - Dale Folwell, completely from that task). We shouldn't put up with such duplicity.
To summarize the situation in a nutshell: State Treasurer Dale Folwell has come up with a plan, the Clear Pricing Plan, to control costs in the State Health Plan. Taking effect in 2020, it would change reimbursement rates on the State Health Plan and implement a reference-based pricing model. In other words, there will be no more price gauging and no more inflating costs to the Plan by hospitals to make up for losses incurred by non-state employees (ie, those receiving healthcare without insurance, including illegals). New legislation, HB-184, was quickly introduced in the NC General Assembly for one purpose only - to block implementation of Folwell's plan. It passed the NC House on Wednesday, April 3 and has already been sent to the NC Senate.
By trying to take authority away from Dale Folwell, the duly-elected state Treasurer tasked with managing the State Health Plan (and the State Pension Plan), for purely political and self-interested reasons, the powers that be (the big state hospitals, their lobbyist groups, and the legislators in bed with them) are attempting a political coup, with free access to everyone's pocketbook as the goal. Make no mistake, HB-184 is all about picking "winners and losers" in North Carolina. The hospitals are determined to be the winners and we the taxpayers and state employees and retirees will be the losers.
The State Employees Association of North Carolina does not understand why the hospitals and why state legislators are so opposed to the rightful and reasonable expectation of transparency and accountability in how taxpayer money is spent with respect to the State Health Plan. Why are they so opposed to Treasurer Folwell continuing in his effort (a responsibility specifically tasked to the State Treasurer) to reform the failing Plan and to saving everyone money? SEANC spokeswoman Ardis Watkins commented: "It seems like the most traditionally American thing there is to demand that our government not be irresponsible with tax dollars or support monopolies that hurt the working people of this country."
I want to end this article by re-emphasizing what Donald Bryson, president of Civitas wrote in his article "State Health Plan Fight: Follow the Money, Part 2." He wrote: "The Treasurer's plan is not necessarily a silver bullet, but the unfunded liability is at least 130% larger than our state government's annual budget. Jones Street needs solutions before we bankrupt ourselves."
We have to nip this bad bill in this bud. We must take back the control we have over our purses and the finances of our state and not buy into the argument that big business/ big hospitals and special interests should substitute themselves for our places at the table. We MUST share this information with our friends and family. We must get the word out about HB-184. We MUST contact our state senators and tell them to vote NO on the bill. Because the next fight in the General Assembly this session is going to be about Medicaid expansion about how we will have to pay for that.
CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR & TELL HIM OR HER TO VOTE "NO" ON HB-184.
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