Health Plan Hikes, $46M School Deficit, NCInnovation in Question

Hurricane Erin has prompted a state of emergency in the Outer Banks as the storm threatens coastal communities. State Health Plan members are bracing for premium increases in the coming years. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools face a dire $46 million budget shortfall, raising concerns about mismanagement and future cuts. Meanwhile, NCInnovation’s future looks uncertain as its CEO prepares to step down and legislators intensify scrutiny of the program.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's five oh five and a good Monday morning to you.
Welcome into the Carolina Journal News our newstock eleven, ten
ninety nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Well.
As of five o'clock this morning, we are continuing to
track Hurricane Erin as it continues to progress westwards in
the Atlantic. It is still a Category four hurricane with

(00:30):
maximum sustained winds at one hundred and thirty miles an hour. Fortunately,
the official track from the storm does have it splitting
the gap between the United States and Bermuda as we
head into the middle and latter parts of this week. However,
due to the storm's a large nature, it is still
expected to have some impacts in the northeastern part of

(00:52):
North Carolina, with authorities in the Outer Banks not taking
any chances. Dare County senior officials noting in a press
release yesterday quote the system will continue to increase in
size and its forecast to bring life threatening impacts to
Dare County's coastline, that is in the Outer Banks. As
officials in that area noted, portions of NZ twelve on

(01:15):
Hatteras Island will likely be impassable for several days, noting
that there are some of those life threatening impacts could
begin to take place throughout Wednesday and Thursday of this week,
and there is even some mandatory evacuations in certain areas
of the Outer Banks this morning due to what is
expected to be some high surf, even though the storm

(01:36):
again is not expected to make any immediate impact in
terms of landfalling here across North Carolina. That state of
emergency went into effect at six pm last night for
all areas in Dare County. We will continue to watch
the preparations throughout the eastern half of North Carolina as
we have continued to track Hurricane Aaron over the last

(01:58):
week or so. Will bring you any additional announcements or
details from various counties and communities in the eastern half
of the state as we get it right here on
the Carolina Journal News Hour. In some statewide news this morning,
a much anticipated move by the State Health Plan Board
of Trustees on Friday when they voted unanimously to approve

(02:24):
premium increases for more than seven hundred and fifty thousand
members of the State Health Plan. This should have not
come as a surprise to folks, as multiple meetings this
year have indicated that was likely the way forward. Back
in February, the Board met to try and find a
solution to the plan's projected deficit of five hundred and

(02:44):
seventy million dollars next year in twenty twenty six and
somewhere between eight hundred and nine hundred million dollars in
twenty twenty seven. The board met again in May to
reconvene and discuss approved changes to State Health Plan benefits,
raising annual deductibles for singles and families under both the

(03:05):
Standard PPO and the Plus PPO plan that is set
to take place next year. State Treasurer Brad Briner, whose
office over sees the State Health Plan, so that these
changes were necessary to keep the plan functioning in the future.
Here's what the state Treasurer had to say a Friday afternoon.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
I want to say to all our state boys, bale
your service and your commitment to the state. We know
how hard you all work for us, which is why
keeping the State Health Plan viable's been the highest priority
since I to the office. I walked into office in
January with a half a billion dollar deficit, and that's

(03:44):
just for.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Today We're going to take the last step to filling
the whole by finalizing premiums. I know that few people
are going to be happy about that, but it is necessary.
I want to have a state health plan in the future.
I appreciate the true team effort it has happened over
the last seven months as we worked to put this

(04:07):
plan on stable long term footing. Collaboration with many of
the organizations that are represented here today Scenic, retired government employees,
retired school personnel, etc. Has made the process smoother by
offering invaluable insights into our members. I'd like to spend
a minute on how we got here. Simply put, we're

(04:31):
here because of the short sighted decisions of my predecessor.
Premiums were frozen for years and members were made to
believe it could be that way forever that the plan
was actually spending more than it took in each and
every year. That meant cash reserves for the plan were
being used to keep prices stable, rather than doing the

(04:53):
hard work with providers and making adjustments to get better
services at lower prices for our members. Now those cash
reserves are nearly gone. It also embarked on a flawed
strategy called the Clear Pricing Project. The original state of
intention was very admirable. Price transparency. Voluntary nature of the

(05:14):
program meant that those who got paid more to be
part of it opted in, and those who would have
been paid less to be part of it did not.
That predictably led to higher expenses. There were no cost
savings in that program. Instead, it was another huge financial miscalculation. Finally,

(05:35):
on this topic, a common political ploy was used against
our members, great distractions to take attention away from the
severity of the financial woes, the most notable of which
was the claim that the State Health Plan's problems were
only as a result of the General Assembly not reimbursing
COVID related expenses, like any good diversion, That was half

(05:58):
true tens of millions of dollars of on reimverse code expenses.
But today we're talking about a multi billion dollar problem.
So even if we had gotten every single possible dollar
of code related expenses, we would still be in a
position to have to raise premiums today.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
That's State Treasurer Brad Briner at the State Health Plans
Board of Trustee meetings that took place on Friday, for
the first time ever, planned premiums are now on a
sliding scale based on income, with the smallest increase going
to the lowest paid state employees. The scale is broken
down into four income brackets, those making under fifty thousand

(06:37):
dollars a year, those making between fifty and sixty five
thousand dollars the next year, sixty five to ninety and
over ninety thousand dollars. For employees earning under fifty thousand
dollars a year, Monthly premiums for a single subscriber will
rise by either ten or sixteen dollars a month, depending
on the plan, whether they're on the Standard or the

(06:58):
Plus plan, and in the top income tier over ninety
thousand dollars, that increase will either be thirty dollars a
month or one hundred and ten dollars a month. Important
to note that retirees on the plan will see their
current monthly premiums remain the same. In June, an audit
of the state health plan confirmed the dire financial situation

(07:19):
using actuarial projections from twenty twenty four, which were used
for financial forecasting by the State Treasurer's office, showing net
losses for the state health Plan of one hundred and
ninety nine million dollars in twenty twenty five, five hundred
and seven million dollars in twenty twenty six, and a
whopping eight hundred and sixty two million dollars in twenty

(07:42):
twenty seven. Ultimately, the projection showed that the state health
plan would have something near a nine hundred and fifty
million dollar cash deficit by the end of twenty twenty
seven if a plans and pricing it did not change deductibles.
Under the standard PPO plan, those deductibles will go up

(08:02):
under the standard plan from fifteen hundred dollars for singles
and forty five hundred dollars for families to three thousand
and nine thousand, respectively. Under the Plus plan the Plus
PPO plan, those deductibles will go from one thy, two
hundred and fifty and thirty seven forty to fifteen hundred
dollars and forty five hundred dollars for those additional plans.

(08:26):
As the Treasurer noted that saying quote today's vote was
not easy, but these increases were necessary to keep the plan,
solve it, and to keep this benefit in place for
those that serve and have served the state of North
Carolina State Treasurer Brad Bryner noted the goal now is
to move forward and focus on ways to improve benefits

(08:47):
through transparency and better partnerships and programs to keep our
members healthy. The twenty twenty six open enrollment period for
those eligible for the State Health Plan are expected to
take place between October thirteenth and October thirty first of
this year. That's when the open enrollment period will take place.
We have got a lot of coverage as to how

(09:08):
we got here, including some details on those board meetings
that took place both in February and May of this year,
as well as a charts this morning showing what those
new costs are going to be for those with spouses
and families those just with individual children. All of that
is linked up in our article this morning over on
our website Carolina Journal dot com the headline a premium

(09:31):
increases ahead for the state for State Health Plan members.
You can read that at Carolina Journal dot com. It's
five twenty two. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News
our news stock eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT.
A new report out this morning from the Office of

(09:54):
the State Auditor shows a dire financial situation in the
Winston Salem Forsyth County School District. Concerns submitted through the
Auditor's tip line led to an investigation that revealed an
estimated forty six million dollar budget deficit for the fiscal
year twenty twenty five. State Auditor Dave Bolock saying in

(10:15):
a press release quote, Winston Salem Forsyth County Schools dug
itself into a deep financial hole, and it's going to
take real discipline to climb out of it. Our schools
need to be focused on teaching students. That becomes a
lot more difficult when you're staring down a forty six
million dollar budget deficit. By shining a bright light on

(10:36):
these specific problems, it is our hope that a sense
of urgency will develop in Winston County Forsyth County Schools
to write the ship in a hurry. The report uncovered
multiple issues, including the use of one time COVID funds
to cover ongoing expenses like employee salaries, failure to adjust

(10:58):
staffing levels despite a declineing student population, and overall financial mismanagement.
Education funding for public school districts across North Carolina is
largely determined by per pupil spending, meaning the amount of
money a district receives is quite heavily tied directly to

(11:18):
the number of students enrolled. Enrollment changes, such as population growth, decline,
or shifts to private homeschooling or charter schools, is a
major factor in shaping a district's budget and resources. Since
twenty eighteen, the Forsyth County School districts student tuition had
fallen by more than three thousand students, yet the number

(11:41):
of full time equivalent employees also known as FTEs increased
by two hundred and forty five individuals. The report reads
that the district appears to have proportionately reduced staffing as
a result of declining enrollment through fiscal year twenty twenty two,
but that practice has not persisted. Specifically, the number of

(12:03):
full time employees added since fiscal year twenty twenty two
does not reflect the general decline of student enrollment that
has occurred inside the district and quote they are from
the report. Some other issues noted. According to the report,
the district routinely bypassed its budget limits, according to the

(12:23):
Office of the State Auditor, using an override function to
approve three hundred and eight purchase orders that exceeded accounts
budget between July one, twenty twenty four, and May ninth
of this year. While policy required the CFO that's the
chief financial officer to approve these overrides and the Board

(12:43):
of Education to adjust accordingly, the district only made timely
budget adjustments thirty three out of the more than three
hundred and eleven cases, leaving two hundred and seventy eight
instances where overspending was not corrected on time. The uncorrected
overrides left accounts inaccurate, reducing budget clarity and contributing to

(13:06):
the ongoing deficit. Some recommendations in the report read, unless
an emergency arises, the district's CFO and Financial Service Department
should consistently use the budget transfer process adopted by the
district in a buzzet budget resolution in twenty twenty four
to override the process. The budget transfer process gives the

(13:30):
superintendent authority to raise the amount of money appropriated to
certain budgets while equivalently lowering the amount of money appropriated
to other budgets. Superintendent Caddy More responded to the report,
acknowledging the district must accept responsibility for its actions. In
an announcement, the superintendent wrote, quote, we appreciate the time

(13:53):
and effort taken by the Auditor's office in reviewing our
financial records and providing record commendations for how we can
continue to improve our process and procedures. The Winston Salem
Forsyth County Schools accepts responsibility for its current financial situation
and acknowledges the difficult path forward and restoring the financial

(14:17):
health of the district. We are committed to transparency, accountability
into rebuilding the public's trust by showing good stewardship of
public dollars. Some other highlights in the report include more
than seventy five million dollars in bonuses were given out
to employees and overspent in its annual revenue during fiscal

(14:39):
year twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. The district
did not reconcile budgeted and actual revenue and expenditures in
a timely manner. The district misuse suspense accounts meant to
hold transactions until they are properly classified. And finally, the
district also was not fully reviewing all all active contracts

(15:01):
when creating the system's annual budget. All of this added
up and it led to what is expected or estimated
now to be a nearly forty seven million dollar budget
deficit for the fiscal year twenty twenty five as the
district attempts to climb out of this whole. This report
again all coming due to the fact that multiple tips

(15:22):
were made to the State Auditor's tip line that caused
them to begin poking around in the numbers over in
Winston Salem in the Forsyth County School District finding some
of these major financial issues. Unfortunately, whether this is not
necessarily the first time that we have seen this with
school districts or local governments across the state of North Carolina.

(15:44):
One of the responsibilities of the State Auditor's Office is
to look into issues of potential financial mismanagement and not
only provide that information to the public, but provide recommendations
to the government entity. In this case, we're talking about
the Board of Education SHO, provide them with resources as
well as recommendations for how to correct some of those problems, and,

(16:06):
as State Auditor noted, begin the process of turning that
ship in a hurry. We've got a link to the
full report, including the response from the superintendent of the
school district over on our website this morning, Carolina Journal
dot com the headline Winston Salem Forsyth Schools facing dire
at forty six million dollar budget gap. You can read

(16:27):
those details at Carolina Journal dot com. It's five thirty five.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven
ten ninety nine three WBT. You don't forget. If you
miss any portion of our show live on this Monday morning,
you can listen to it after the fact on your
own time by checking out the Carolina Journal News Hour podcast.

(16:49):
It's available in Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you
get your shows. Search for the Carolina Journal News Hour,
tap the subscribe or follow button, and you'll get a
new program delivered each and every weekday morning. You can
also watch the show live and after the fact on
our Carolina Journal YouTube channel. As budget negotiations continue stalled

(17:10):
in Riley, we've continued to follow that here on the
Carolina Journal News Hour. One of the big questions continues
around a group known as NC Innovation. They had a
meeting last week and the future of them remains relatively
unknown at this point. To walk us through that meeting.
Donna King, the editor in chief of Carolina Journal dot com,
joins us on the news hour of Donna, We've talked
a little bit about NC Innovation over the last year

(17:30):
or so. It's an interesting entity and there's maybe more
questions than answers as we sit here this morning.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
Yeah, there really is. So NC Innovation was as a
private nonprofit, but it's operating on a five hundred million
dollars endowment from North Carolina taxpayers. It's intended to help
bridge the gap between the amazing research happening at our
public universities and commercialization of that work. So they were

(17:58):
formed by a lot of businesusiness leaders, you know, you know,
strong business people in North Carolina's economies and retired bankers
things like that to really give into the university system
helped commercialize that research. Now, the idea, of course, seems
like a fantastic spot to really be investing that kind
of time and talent. But the big question is is

(18:19):
it where we need to put five hundred million taxpayer
dollars right now when we have things like Colleen and
you know, potentially Medicaid expenses and all these other things.
Infrastructure DMV changes, all these other things that are happening
in North Carolina, healthcare, education, name it. That's one of
the things that we've been talking a lot about this year,
and internally, I think that that board appears to as

(18:43):
of last Wednesday's meeting, be thinking about, Okay, maybe we
need to be start thinking about how to be independent
a privately funded entity to accomplish these goals, because there's
a lot of strings that are attached to public money, certainly,
and I think that's what they're finding out for the
most part. A big day long meeting on Wednesday, one

(19:03):
of the members of their board of directors, whose art Pope.
He's also coincidentally and also the co founder of the
John Mott Foundation, which is the publishing organization for Carolina Journal.
It's all kind of tied there, but he's on that
board and he had some concerns. He's a tax attorney
by trade. He had some concerns with how their nine nineties,

(19:25):
their lobbying expenses, how their accounting practices are being run. Yet,
a lot of questions, and as a result, he feels
like he's being shut out of some of the inner
workings of what's happening even though he's on that board.
So that was the big brewhaja that was going on
around that meeting. On Wednesday, the NC Innovation formed a

(19:46):
special Litigation Committee to investigate mister Pope's allegations of what
he says is happening in the management some of the
problems that are happening in NC Innovation, and to then
decide if perhaps all of his questioning was creating an
undue pressure and expensive pressure on ENDC Innovation themselves. Well,
the upshot of it, they decided they weren't going to

(20:07):
assume them, but they want all the boards of Directors
to sign a code of conduct that says that as
a member of the Board of direction Directors, you're going
to follow what's in the best entrance of NC Innovation,
which is by extension in the interests of the state. Well,
you know they're in as the rub right. So I
talked to some of the lawmakers who put in those

(20:28):
strings into that money for the five hundred million, and said, hey, look,
we wanted appointment power to this board because we want
these folks to be watching that five hundred million dollars
and make sure it's a return on our investment. We
want them there asking the tough questions. We want them
there getting all the information that they need so they
can report back and make sure that this is where
five hundred million of our dollars should go. So the

(20:51):
whole thing has really turned into what he said, she said,
you know, where's the documents? Who's running the show now?
The budget is what really hangs in the balance.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
You know, it's interesting, Donna, you bring this up and
you go through some of this back and forth that's
been unfolding over the last couple of months. And you know,
as from the standpoint of lawmakers, which we've got in
our article over at Carolina Journal dot com, as you noted,
and as lawmakers have, this is exactly the reason why
they wanted individuals that they appointed on that board to
keep an eye on it. You would imagine with all

(21:23):
of the negative attention that NC Innovation has gotten over
the last six, eight, twelve months, that they wouldn't want
something like this to be coming to fruition that this
code of conduct seems to be bringing more negative attention
to a group that's kind of getting hit from all angles.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Right, And I don't think that that's what they expected,
because they have done some good things. They've got twenty
five grants out, some of them are small, but it
is just getting rolling. I think that they're worried that
the negative attention is clouding what they believe to be
a fantastic mission. The idea is good, now should it
be publicly funded? That's the point that some of these
lawmakers are raising. So I spoke with the oversight chair

(22:00):
for the House in North Carolina. Both of them said, look,
you know, we one don't think public money should be
spent like this, and we have so many competing priorities.
We have bridges that need to be built, roads that
need to be widened, teachers that need to be paid,
Hurricane Helen damage, name it, and others. Say, I want
to make sure that there are eyes on this money

(22:20):
at all times and to report back. So here's the thing, though,
without a budget, both chambers, the Senate and the House
have both put in their versions to claw back at
least all, if not most, if not all, of that
five hundred million, But they don't have a budget agreement
right now. So even if the if the General Assembly

(22:41):
doesn't come up with a final budget agreement, even though
both chambers agree on this, you know in C Innovation
could hold on to that money for at least a
little while longer. But if they you know, the other
options are the General Assembly could come back and do
a mini budget or a technical correction, or you know,
there's other vehicles. But without a budget agreement, that money

(23:01):
stays in the hands of NC Innovation for the near term.
But it really, you know, they're they're really looking at
a runway to try and build out private support for
some of their mission.

Speaker 1 (23:11):
Well, and it's interesting that you mentioned the private support
because part of its initial charter was reliant on there
being some level of private support on top of the
more than half almost half a billion dollars that the
state of North Carolina gave NC Innovation to start and Donna,
as you talk about, and I think rightfully, so the
mission here makes a lot of sense. Taxpayers are already
investing into the university system to educate these children and

(23:35):
go on and produce some of these these studies and
some of this research. It makes sense to try and
commercialize it and get some money back. But of course,
the big question is is that the use of taxpayer
dollars are the best use of taxpayer dollars I would
imagine that the private sector would be all behind something
like this.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
Yes, you know, that's the that's the point. There's this
area called the valley of death between the time the
research is completed at the universities and the time it
would make it to a commercialized market. That value of
death is what these what NC Innovation's founder said, that's
the problem. We need to solve that problem. We need
to help them get through that process. Now, that said,
when you're commercializing a product, that's an opportunity for investors,

(24:14):
and that's an area where one would think that, you know,
a private investment would really be able to find that
hidden gold. But then they're going to face similar challenges.
They're going to have to provide, you know, markers of success.
They're going to have to say, Okay, what'd you do
so far? You know that that the prove prove your
metal kind of thing is what they're going to have
to be moving forward with. Just like they should for

(24:35):
taxpayers they go private, they're going to have to do
it as well. It's a super ambitious project within it
with laudable goals. The question is is how is it
being managed? Is everything being done correctly? And should again
taxpayer money to the tune of five hundred million be
covering it.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
So one of the other things that seems to be
shaking up over at NC Innovation is the CEO is
currently in the process of trying to figure out his
retention plan. Is he plans on leaving that position within
the next six months. So not only is there some
uncertainty as to what's going to happen with all this money, Donna,
but the head honcho over there is planning on leaving
over the next six months.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
Right, Yes, doctor Bennett Waters has announced that he is
going to work on a succession plan, planning on heading
out after about the next six months. That was something
else that came out this week. Now he is still
he says, he's still very committed to the idea, and
there had been some rumblings that he was really in
here to get this thing going and he wasn't going
to be here, you know, for its entire lifespan. This

(25:34):
was he's professional management and fundraising and all these other things.
So the plan to find a successor in that role
is already officially underway.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
As you mentioned, the General Assembly could come back and
deal with this. They just passed a mini budget a
couple of weeks ago, surprising that because there was at
least agreement on that, maybe not everything else in the
budget proposals thus far, that it wasn't included in there.
But Donna's will. Look at the calendar, there's only I
think three more potential voting days left before we get
to the end of twenty twenty five. If lawmakers are

(26:07):
going to do this, there's really only a couple of
shots for them to get it done.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
That's really true. They sign an adjournment resolution at the
last session said they're going to come back for a
few days at the end of August, the end of September,
the end of October, and you know, they're working. You know,
we can't get ourselves. Really they're working. To a degree,
they're negotiating. I'm understanding that there are still some budget
negotiations going on at the most senior level, so we

(26:33):
may see things come out and I think that, you know,
those will be really critically important days, probably voting days,
and there could be something bubbling up, But there's lots
of competing priorities for both the money and the time.
We're talking about hurricane relief, education, you know, state employee,
you know, raises all these other priorities that are really

(26:53):
competing for their time and money.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Donald, We've got a lot more in this. You've got
a lot of quotes from lawmakers and from those on
the NCI board, plus some of our previous coverage us
to how we got to this situation that we're in
right now. Where can folks go and read those details?

Speaker 3 (27:07):
Absolutely, you can get all the details at Carolina Journal
dot com.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
It's a great update. We appreciate the time this morning.
Donna King, the editor in chief, joins us on the
Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again, it's five point
fifty two. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour,
new Stock eleven, ten ninety nine to three WBT. Continuing
to track the tropics this morning, Hurricane Aaron, as of

(27:33):
the five am advisory from the National Hurricane Center, is
still a very strong Category four storm. Fortunately for the
vast majority of our state, that storm does look to
split the gap between the continental United States and Bermuda. However,
some folks in the outer Banks are getting prepared for
what could be some rough weather. Officials in both the

(27:55):
Dare and Hyde Counties have declared states of emergency, with
some mandatory evacuations ordered for the outer Banks. The National
Weather Service issued a coastal floodwatch for the Outer Banks
starting Tuesday, with the note of breaking waves between fifteen
and twenty feet. Dare County Emergency Management officials said with

(28:17):
the state of emergency notice quote, portions of NC twelve
on Hatteras Island will likely be impassable for several days.
That is what has caused them to go forward with
this evacuation. We will continue to track the storm as
it makes its way north over the next couple of days,
and any more evacuation notices or state of emergencies will

(28:39):
pass them along to you right here on the Carolina
Journal News Hour. Well. On Friday, in a much anticipated move,
the State Health Plan Board of Trustees voted unanimously to
approve premium increases for the more than seven hundred and
fifty thousand members of the State Health Plan. This is
something that, as I noted, is was anticipated as the

(29:02):
board has met multiple times this year to try and
deal with major financial shortcomings moving forward. Back in February
is when this conversation began. When the plans projected deficits
were estimated to be five hundred and seven million dollars
in twenty twenty six and somewhere between eight hundred and
nine hundred million dollars in twenty twenty seven. The Board

(29:26):
met again on May the twentieth of this year to
approve changes to the various benefit plans, raising annual deductibles
for singles and families under both the Standard PPO and
Plus PPO plans starting in the twenty twenty six benefit year.
State Treasurer Brad Briner, whose office oversees the state health Plan,

(29:47):
said that this was necessary to keep the plan functional
in the future. Briner told his colleagues on Friday, quote,
I walked into office in January with half a billion
dollar deficit and that it's just for twenty twenty six.
Today we're going to take the last step to filling
the whole by finalizing premiums. I know that few people

(30:09):
are going to be happy about that, but it is necessary.
We want to have a state health plan in the future.
Former State Treasurer Dale Folwell maintained a policy of not
increasing premiums, and Treasurer Brianer did not hesitate to point
out how that decision contributed to the current dire financial situation,
with Briner saying very bluntly, quote simply put, we're here

(30:33):
because of the shortsighted decisions of my predecessor. Premiums were
frozen for years and members were made to believe that
it could be that way forever, but the plan was
actually spending more than it took in each and every year.
That meant that cash reserves for the plan were being
used to keep prices stable rather than doing the hard

(30:54):
work with providers in making adjustments to get better services
at lower price is for our members. Now those cash
reserves are nearly gone. Planned premiums for the first time,
are now on a sliding scale based on income, with
the smallest increases going to the lowest paid state employees.
That scale is broken down into four income brackets, those

(31:17):
making under fifty thousand dollars a year, those making between
fifty and sixty five thousand dollars, sixty five to ninety thousand,
and the final tier is over ninety thousand dollars a
year for employees earning under fifty thousand dollars. Monthly premiums
for a single subscriber will rise by either ten or

(31:37):
sixteen dollars a month, depending whether they're on the standard
seventy thirty PPO plan or the plus eighty twenty PPO plan.
In the top income tier those making over ninety thousand
dollars a year, that increase will be either thirty or
one hundred and ten dollars per month. Retirees on the
plan will see their monthly premiums remain the same going forward.

(32:01):
Treasurer Briner noted that the approach to fixing this crisis
will not only preserve affordability, but will also put the
state Health Plan on a sustainable path, ensuring that this
valuable benefit will be available in the future as well.
As you can imagine with health insurance, there is a
lot of different numbers and charts. We've got all of

(32:22):
that linked up on our website this morning, Carolina Journal
dot com. You can see what some of these new
costs are going to be starting next year. We've got
a full breakdown the headline over on our website this morning,
Premium increases ahead for State Health Plan members. You can
read those details and check out those charts over at
Carolina Journal dot com. Well, that's going to do it

(32:43):
for a Monday edition at WBT News is next followed
by good morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning,
five to six right here on Newstock eleven ten and
ninety nine three WBT