As North Carolina’s State Health Plan faces a projected shortfall of $1.2 billion over the next two years, it seems the last thing needed right now is any measure that would increase the costs of the program.
But that’s exactly what Sen. James Forrester (R-Gaston) is proposing in Senate Bill 519, this week’s Bad Bill of the Week.
Essentially, what the bill does is expedite how quickly new state employees begin receiving their state health coverage. Previously, new employees needed to wait until the first day of the month following their first day of employment. SB 519 would move up coverage to the new employee’s actual first day of employment.
As legislation to “fix” the State Health Plan’s financial troubles by raising co-pays and deductibles moves through the Senate, SB 519 would only make any fixes more expensive.
Possibly a little more information is needed concerning Forrester’s reason for the bill. It may be BEACON (SAP state payroll system) related and actually may be designed to save money in admin. costs. The initiation of BEACON has changed many procedures that were necessary under the replaced system.