Emergency call

The next governor may have to reorganize the troubled state health plan, which must meet the needs of state workers

This is no false alarm. There are some 662,000 North Carolina teachers, state employees, dependents and retirees on the State Health Plan. They count on it. But the plan needs $300 million right away just to keep it going. Beyond that, several hundred million dollars more will have to come in to keep the plan written in black ink. Or, benefits will be affected.

For the immediate future, some payments to vendors have been delayed. That's stopgap.

If the state is to continue to provide a high quality plan, which without question is a draw for workers who otherwise might wind up in the private sector, it's clear a longer-range view is going to be needed. The plan should not be hostage to periodic infusions of cash from the legislature when things get tough, which they certainly are right now.

Instead, it's clear that Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, a long-time ally of state employees (who pack a political punch), will have to move and move quickly to study ways in which the plan's long-term health can be protected.

When private enterprises get in trouble, they have to come up with new "business plans," or adjust to changing marketplaces or engage in reorganization or all three. It's true that a health plan such as the state provides isn't a private company, and it represents a solemn agreement between the state and its workers. So of course it should not be subject to the same risks facing private industries.

But something has to give, and it's up to the new governor and the legislature to figure out what it's going to be. Solving this problem sounds like a task beyond the pay grade of most politicians. Perdue, who has experience in the health care industry, needs to bring in people from other states who have faced, or are still facing, similar pressures on health care plans. State employees' representatives should be included in any discussions.

And there's another factor here that the incoming president, Barack Obama, has said he intends to address: the ever-increasing costs of health care. Will Obama move forward with the intent of seeing to it that every citizen has an opportunity for affordable care? He has said that he will. He must.

It's quite apparent that the State Health Plan's troubles won't simply fade away -- there will be more retired workers, and in a growing state, a need for more new workers. Yes, a good health plan that includes some benefits for retirees is without question a factor in whether some people choose to remain in state government. North Carolina should not accept a lesser plan that might drive good people away.

But any plan must be efficient, make common sense, and avoid financial problems with foresight and not temporary measures. The governor-elect has a tough row to hoe here, with this problem in addition to a general budget shortfall that may be getting worse because of a prolonged recession.