H1N1 flu is contributing to the state's Medicaid spending running over budget.
N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler told Dome that a mix of forces is pushing the program's spending such that, on its present course, it would be $160 million or more over budget by June. He said enrollment is higher than expected, as is the use of services. The H1N1 flu treatment is costing $13 million extra.
And, the state has to wait for federal approval to make several cost-cutting changes. The state budget was written on the basis of those changes, such as a rate reduction for providers, being effective Sept. 1. Federal approval could come as late as January.
"We can't add or subtract to the program without the federal government saying OK," Cansler said.
Washington pays for about three-quarters of Medicaid's $10billion budget.
An unhealthful job
Employees of the N.C. Department of Correction tend to be unhealthy.
So says Jack Walker, executive administrator of the State Health Plan. He says they are often overweight. Some are depressed. Many smoke. They have stressful jobs, and they don't make much money.
Those factors contribute to the high health care costs for the agency, Walker told a legislative commission on Wednesday.
Walker said he is working with the department on making health care and other services available at work as part of the plan's attempts to lower the cost of health care for state employees.
Walker said he has proposed wellness initiatives for the Department of Correction and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, which also has high rates of unhealthy employees. He said officials in both departments have been receptive but a lack of money and people have hampered those efforts.
Making employees healthier has a financial benefit, Walker said. That's the theory behind wellness initiatives that require smokers and the obese to pay more for health insurance. A smoker in the health plan incurs $2,600 more a year in heath care costs than a non-smoker.
But the state sees a benefit when employees are healthy and productive at work, Walker said.
Walker told commission members that the plan will make free nicotine patches available to its members who want to quit smoking.
The plan also will cover without pre-authorization drugs meant to help smokers quit.
Edwards to speak
Elizabeth Edwards is scheduled to speak in Raleigh this weekend about health care reform.
Edwards, a health care advocate and wife of former U.S. senator and presidential candidate John Edwards, will speak at a luncheon sponsored by Common Cause North Carolina. The nonpartisan group, which advocates for more open and responsive government, is honoring Elizabeth Edwards for her work on health care reform.
The event is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Campbell University law school in downtown Raleigh.
By staff writers Mark Johnson and Benjamin Niolet
