Perdue Vetoes State Health Insurance Premiums

RALEIGH — Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would require teachers and state employees to pick up a greater cost of their health insurance, saying the Republican legislature effectively hit them with a tax increase without consulting them.

The News & Observer

A tax increase?  So health insurance premiums are taxes now?  If they are then Perdue should be thrilled.  When has she ever seen a tax increase she didn’t like?  And why do teachers and state employees need to be consulted?  When have I ever been consulted by my local, state, or federal government when they’ve raised taxes and fees on me?

She urged the legislature to return to the negotiating table with teachers and state workers.

You know I am so sick and tired of teachers and state employees being treated like they’re some special class of citizens that aren’t entitled to face the same harsh reality that the rest of us do.  The state of North Carolina has a $3 billion budget gap it has to close, thanks in large part to Governor Perdue and the Democrats who ran the state legislature up until this past January and kicked the budget issue down the road to the next legislature.  When you have a $3 billion budget gap then you have to scale back on government services and that means laying off government employees or contracting some of their fringe benefits.  You know, the same thing the rest of us go through in the real world.

The legislature’s plan would require state employees to pay individual health insurance premiums for the first time and face higher co-pays and deductibles. Under the bill, state workers would pay $10.86 or $21.72 per month starting in July, depending on their coverage level.

$21 a month!  Oh, the humanity!  How cruel those evil legislators are expecting state employees to kick in a whole $21 a month, less than a dollar a day, for individual health insurance! I pay five times that each month for mine.

Existing premiums for dependents would rise by 5.2 percent a year for the next two years, possibly raising premiums for family coverage from $580 per month to more than $660 by 2012.

Now that I agree is expensive, but guess whose fault that is.  The state of North Carolina for effectively giving Blue Cross Blue Shield a monopoly throughout the state.  How about a little competition among insurance companies.

The N.C. Association of Educators, the state affiliate of the National Education Association, has been one of Perdue’s biggest political allies throughout her career.

And there you have it.  She has to protect the people who vote for her and fund her political campaigns at the expense of the rest of the state residents.

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