Commentary: Blue Cross Blue Shield Cuts Are Hurting Rural Tennesseans

I wouldn’t trade living in Tennessee for anything – the scenic landscapes and sense of community that I share with neighbors are things that I deeply cherish. But living in the Volunteer State can also come with challenges. Our rural communities sometimes have fewer choices and less access when it comes to critical resources and services, with the most impactful example perhaps being less access to healthcare providers.

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North Carolina Treasurer Warns of Health Plan Insolvency, Has Plans for Reform

A December 2018 report by S&P Global suggests that the North Carolina state health plan will be in real jeopardy of insolvency by 2023 due to unfunded liabilities and rising medical and pharmaceutical costs. “North Carolina’s other post-employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities as a combined funded ratio, are less than five percent funded. The November 28, 2018 report confirms previous research by the Pew Charitable Trusts which explains that the state’s unfunded retirement/health care costs as a share of personal income are one of the worst in the country, right behind Illinois,” State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, announced in a press statement about S&P Global’s findings. “Every man, woman, and child in the state would have to pay almost $3,200 each to cover our current promises of health care for state and local government retirees. We’re having to act because others haven’t,” Folwell said in the press statement. Folwell has a plan to save the health plan and taxpayer money. “We are approaching this like anything else and that’s ‘we attack problems, not people’, Folwell recently told Battleground State News. “Solving this is going to make a huge difference in the lives of the people who educate our kids, who…

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North Carolina Treasurer Warns of Health Plan Insolvency, Has Plans for Reform

A December 2018 report by S&P Global suggests that the North Carolina state health plan will be in real jeopardy of insolvency by 2023 due to unfunded liabilities and rising medical and pharmaceutical costs. “North Carolina’s other post-employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities as a combined funded ratio, are less than five percent funded. The November 28, 2018 report confirms previous research by the Pew Charitable Trusts which explains that the state’s unfunded retirement/health care costs as a share of personal income are one of the worst in the country, right behind Illinois,” State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, announced in a press statement about S&P Global’s findings. “Every man, woman, and child in the state would have to pay almost $3,200 each to cover our current promises of health care for state and local government retirees. We’re having to act because others haven’t,” Folwell said in the press statement. Folwell has a plan to save the health plan and taxpayer money. “We are approaching this like anything else and that’s ‘we attack problems, not people’, Folwell recently told Battleground State News. “Solving this is going to make a huge difference in the lives of the people who educate our kids, who…

Read the full story