North Carolina
Aetna picked to operate North Carolina employee health plan
RALEIGH, N.C. — Insurance coverage big Aetna will administer North Carolina’s well being protection plan for state authorities workers, lecturers, retirees and their relations beginning in 2025, the State Treasurer’s Workplace introduced Wednesday.
The corporate received the contract and can exchange Blue Cross and Blue Defend of North Carolina, which the State Well being Plan stated has held the third-party administrator’s job for over 40 years. Aetna would start with a three-year contract, with the choice afterward for 2 agreements that will final one yr every.
Blue Cross, the state’s largest well being insurer, stated in a written assertion that it is pursuing an enchantment of the State Well being Plan’s contract award on Dec. 14, and advised North Carolina residents might lose their jobs within the transition. Within the aggressive bid course of, UMR Inc. additionally submitted a contract proposal together with Blue Cross and Aetna.
Given the plan’s shear measurement, the administrator chosen to deal with paperwork for well being care bills, guarantee claims are paid and construct out a supplier community is important.
The plan, which sits inside Treasurer Dale Folwell’s division, covers greater than 740,000 folks, with bills paid for by state funds and member premiums. The contract oversees well being care spending of greater than $17.5 billion over 5 years, the information launch stated. Blue Cross does not carry out administrative providers for the roughly 185,000 retirees who’re enrolled in Medicare Benefit plans, nonetheless.
About $79 million in administrative bills are anticipated be paid to Blue Cross through the 2022 calendar yr as a part of its third-party contract, in response to the well being plan. Folwell and the plan stated in a information launch that the Aetna contract might lead to $140 million in price financial savings ought to it lengthen to 5 years.
“A change of this magnitude is a superb alternative for a recent perspective, and we look ahead to working intently with Aetna to create new methods to offer value transparency, improve entry and high quality whereas decreasing the price of well being care for individuals who educate, shield and serve, and taxpayers like them,” stated Folwell, a Republican elected to a second time period as treasurer in 2020.
Blue Cross stated it was “deeply upset” by the State Well being Plan’s determination, saying it “threatens North Carolina jobs.” The corporate additionally stated it will search extra info via a public data request.
The State Well being Plan tried to counter any narrative about misplaced jobs. The information launch stated Aetna already workers over 10,000 staff within the state, and that 600 workers had been assigned Wednesday to work on the transition with interim plan director Sam Watts. Plan members will not need to be contemplate adjustments till 2024, earlier than the 2025 enrollment interval begins.
Folwell stated he is spoken with prime Blue Cross leaders, who “guarantee me that they are going to end robust for the subsequent two years.”
Whereas the plan wields nice weight in well being care in North Carolina, Folwell and others have been pissed off at instances with Blue Cross’ administration, accusing it of opaque decision-making.
Blue Cross has stated some data on plan member claims that Folwell has needed would put the corporate at a aggressive drawback. Compromise state laws permitted in 2022 might assist the State Well being Plan work out higher monetary agreements with well being care suppliers.
Ardis Watkins, govt director of the State Workers Affiliation of North Carolina, a union representing state staff, expressed warning concerning the adjustments however stated the affiliation is open to listening to Aetna’s plans.
“State workers are at all times cautious of change,” Watkins stated, however “it has been our expertise that the plan’s management has the pursuits of state workers and retirees at coronary heart.”
Watkins stated much more price financial savings are wanted within the coming years to forestall bills from falling more and more on plan members. Folwell has been battling with the state’s hospitals on that entrance.
Copyright © 2023 by The Related Press. All Rights Reserved.
North Carolina
Chance of snow this week more likely east and south in central NC
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — We’re not even one month into 2025, and there’s already a second chance to see snowfall in central North Carolina.
Most of the week will be rather cold with temperatures in the 30s to 40s.
Spotty showers are likely on Sunday, amounting to 0.10 to 0.20 inches. This is not all that impactful for the region, and it’s too little rainfall to make any big dent in the drought conditions across the Triangle. The chance for any backside mixed in snowflakes Sunday afternoon looks fleeting, but you’re more likely to see it in far eastern portions of the viewing area.
Another chance for precipitation will be on Tuesday night (more snowy) and Thursday into Thursday night (more icy).
Tuesday: There can be a path of 1 to 3 inches of snow in the southern/eastern parts of central NC.
Thursday: There is a risk of some freezing rain at night, more likely in the eastern parts of central NC. Details beyond this are limited.
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MORE COVERAGE
WATCH | First Alert to Winter Special 2024
In this week’s special First Alert to Winter show, the team looks at snow chances, the winter forecast and getting ready for wintry weather.
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North Carolina
Key Ole Miss Transfer Target Thaddeus Dixon Chooses North Carolina Over Rebels
The Ole Miss Rebels have made strong moves in the transfer portal this offseason, but the program missed out on a key contributor on Saturday when cornerback Thaddeus Dixon pledged to the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Ole Miss was in the race late for Dixon, but a deciding factor in his decision to join the Tar Heels may have boiled down to Carolina’s hiring of former Washington assistant Armond Hawkins as defensive backs coach. Dixon is a transfer from the Washington Huskies, so familiarity in his new home likely played a role.
READ MORE: Will Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons Continue Playing Baseball in 2025?
So, where do the Rebels go from here? Ole Miss has already gained some key pieces in its secondary out of the transfer portal (including CB Jaylon Braxton of Arkansas), but Lane Kiffin’s team will probably still be seeking some help in the defensive backfield as the transfer portal continues to move.
According to On3’s current transfer portal class rankings, Ole Miss has the third-best haul in the country, behind Texas Tech and Missouri. The Rebels have seen 23 players transfer into the program so far this offseason, and that number could continue to grow between now and kickoff of the 2025 season.
Ole Miss opens its 2025 campaign on Aug. 30 at home against Georgia State.
READ MORE Ole Miss Rebels News:
Ole Miss To Host Former Penn State WR Trey Wallace
Ole Miss Rebels DT Jamarious Brown Named Freshman All-American
Ole Miss Lands Former Louisville QB Pierce Clarkson Via Transfer Portal
Former Ole Miss Football Superstar AJ Brown Named AP All-Pro Second Team
The Pete Golding Effect: How Ole Miss Football Will Reload Defensively in 2025
North Carolina
Thaddeus Dixon Joins in Husky Exodus to North Carolina
In a postseason recruitment that was raw and revealing at times, where decorated cornerback Thaddeus Dixon suggested in social media postings that University of Washington football fans wanted him to come back more than the coaches, apparently received all the assurances he needed at North Carolina.
On Saturday, the senior defensive back from Long Beach, California, told On3 he would join the Tar Heels for his final season of college football, adding to a growing list of one-time UW players and coaches headed to Chapel Hill.
So far, the departing group includes linebacker Khmori House, safety Peyton Waters, wide receiver Jason Robinson Jr., defensive coordinator Steve Belichick and defensive analyst Armond Hawkins, all moving from Montlake to the ACC.
The 6-foot-1, 187-pound Dixon would have given the Huskies three highly accredited corners, joining fellow UW starter Ephesians Prysock and Arizona transfer Tacario Davis, to fill out a secondary that could have had few equals this coming season, and still might.
Dixon reportedly took recruiting visits to Mississippi and North Carolina, and fielded overtures from Michigan, before settling on the Tar Heels.
The disconnect for Dixon appeared to show up when the Huskies landed a portal commitment from the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Davis, a second-team All-Big 12 pick this past season, presumably to take his vacated spot.
The 6-foot-4, 193-pound Prysock and Davis teamed together at Arizona in 2023, with both earning All-Pac-12 honorable-mention accolades.
Dixon originally was supposed to run out of college eligibility when the season ended, hence the Huskies went looking for cornerback help, but the NCAA gave the veteran an extra year when it changed the rules governing players with junior-college backgrounds. He came to the UW from Long Beach Community College.
One of the Huskies’ top individual success stories this past season, Dixon went from a back-up player in 2023 to unseat returning starter Elijah Jackson, who opened all 15 games for the national runner-up team.
Moving into the lineup, Dixon started 12 of 13 games and received All-Big Ten honorable-mention honors for Jedd Fisch’s coaching staff. He had a team-best 10 pass break-ups, an Apple Cup interception and several textbook tackles in the open field. He’s easily made himself into an NFL prospect.
With three accomplished cornerbacks, the Huskies could have picked two starters and put the odd man out at nickelback.
Dixon clearly wasn’t going to go that route at the UW, likely figuring his past performance should have provided him with more cornerback guarantees.
For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington
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