Butterfield: State should pay Medicaid costs

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield wants the state of North Carolina to take on the $487.9 million annual Medicaid burden it now passes on to county governments to help pay for health care for the state's most impoverished residents.

Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat who represents one of the poorest congressional districts in the country, submitted legislation Tuesday that would prohibit states from pushing part of their Medicaid bills onto county governments.

North Carolina is the only state in the nation that doesn't pay for all its Medicaid, Butterfield said, but he said he wasn't picking on his home state.

"I'm not looking for a confrontation with the General Assembly," Butterfield said. "I'm not pushing this as an all-or-nothing bill."

Still, Butterfield didn't consult state lawmakers before submitting the bill, saying his last conversation on the matter was with state Sen. Marc Basnight about a year ago.

"I think some [state lawmakers] may feel uncomfortable with it," Butterfield acknowledged Tuesday. "But if it will start a conversation or a debate that will help my counties, that's OK with me."

Butterfield said the current process in North Carolina disproportionately hurts poor, rural counties, which have a high percentage of residents eligible for Medicaid but don't have the high property tax bases of more affluent, urban counties.

"Every time I go into a meeting with a county manager or county commissioners, this is the first thing out of their mouths," Butterfield said. "I'm told in different counties, they talk about other things. They talk about how to manage development."

Half of North Carolina's 100 counties -- including 23 in Butterfield's district -- spend more of their property tax revenues on Medicaid than on school facilities, according to statistics from the N.C. Association of County Commissioners.

The state legislature has begun tackling the issue of Medicaid spending by county governments. It included a temporary freeze on county Medicaid costs in the state budget and recently included $27.4 million toward county relief.

There also is a new state commission proposed to study eliminating county's Medicaid payments.

But that isn't enough, Butterfield said.

"The state has to fix the problem," he said. "If not, my counties are going to be in dire straits."

Ethics laws and a deli tray

Employees at the state Department of Insurance had a bit less to snack on for the holiday season.

That's because state Insurance Commissioner Jim Long went a step beyond the state's new ethics and lobbying laws to ban all food and gifts from anyone outside the department. The laws apply only to top officials.

Department spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said that meant a deli tray and a tin of Bavarian cookies ended up going to a local soup kitchen.

"The holidays weren't quite the same for us," she said. "Not as much food."

Payouts may be reclaimed

An airport authority serving northeast North Carolina will have to decide whether to reclaim money paid to its board members for a 10-month period in violation of state law.

A state audit found that board members of the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Airport Authority received a total of about $2,000 in compensation for attending quarterly board meetings from Sept. 1, 2003, through June 30, 2004.

The legislation that created the authority says the board members shall serve without compensation but that they are entitled to expenses.

The audit said the board learned of the misappropriations at its June 30, 2004, board meeting and stopped the compensation. But the board did not seek to recover the money already spent.

Wayne Perry, the board's chairman, said the board will take up the issue of recovering the paid compensation at its meeting on Jan. 31.

Morgan lawyer has new job

Michael Weisel, who worked as House Speaker Pro Tem Richard Morgan's legal counsel last year, has changed law firms.

Weisel is leaving Taylor, Penry, Rash & Riemann to work for Bailey & Dixon. Both firms have offices in Raleigh.

John Edwards to be on Leno

Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic presidential hopeful from Chapel Hill, is scheduled to appear on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.