For long game wins, state health plan addresses short-term challenges

(The Center Square) – A key to controlling increases in North Carolina state employee health care costs lies is lowering the number of patients with “chronic” diseases such as diabetes, heart conditions, cancer and arthritis, the director of the program said Friday.

An estimated 70% of employees on the state insurance plans suffer from one of those conditions, Thomas Friedman, executive administrator of the State Health Plan, told the board that governs the plan.

Nearly 750,000 people access the plan, inclusive of teachers, state employees, retirees, community college and university staff, and dependents of those respective groups. While the state remains without its two-year state budget that was due July 1, a mini-budget measure by the General Assembly in July appropriated $100 million of taxpayers’ money to aid a $500 million deficit.

Lowering the percentage will not be a quick or easy task, Friedman said.

“We didn’t get to 70% of people with a chronic condition in...