House Bill 184 was filed this week, giving in to hospital executives’ demands for the General Assembly to pump the brakes on the Clear Pricing Project. Sponsored by 25 representatives in the House, HB 184 sets up a study committee to look at the needs and the plan design of the State Health Plan. The bill also prohibits reference-based pricing until 2022, meaning plan members will continue to overpay for services and taxpayers will be charged nearly $1 million a day while they study the Plan.

We need you to contact the bill sponsors and your legislators and tell them it’s time to put working families over corporate interests.

Governor Cooper sided with the hospitals last week, echoing the call to delay implementation of the Clear Pricing Project. Tell Gov. Cooper the time is now to save our State Health Plan. Let him know that state employees and retirees have overpaid for too long and attempts to delay the Clear Pricing Project only allow hospital executives to keep patients in the dark about the true cost of their care.

We don’t need to slow down, hospitals need to hurry up.

Take action now to let Gov. Cooper and your legislators know that the Clear Pricing Project is the clear choice for state employees, retirees and taxpayers.

Council of State to decide DMV headquarters' fate this week 

On Tuesday the Council of State will make its final decision on the proposed DMV headquarters move to Rocky Mount. Both SEANC lobbyists and members will be on hand to remind the Council of State that the decision has real-life consequences for the workers there. 

It will also negatively affect taxpayers who live west of Raleigh, who will have to drive an extra hour to do business with the DMV headquarters.

A News & Observer story this week highlighted the flooding issues at the Rocky Mount site that has been selected. SEANC Executive Director Robert Broome told the paper that the flooding problems should be a disqualifier for the move.

“I’m very concerned about the state taking on that level of risk for a campus that is supposed to house the headquarters of a state agency,” said Broome. “I think this risk should not be downplayed and should in fact be a disqualifier for this location."

If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to call the Council of State members to tell them to keep the DMV headquarters in Raleigh.