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INSIDE THIS ISSUE: DEPARTMENTS Legislature North Carolina 2 C A R O L I N A Education 8 to hold spe- Local Government 10 From Page 1 14 cial session Higher Education 17 on Medic- Books & the Arts 20 Opinion 24 aid/2 A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF NEWS, ANALYSIS AND OPINION Parting Shot 28 JOURNALFROM THE JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION August 2014 Vol. 23 No. 8 STATEWIDE EDITION Check us out online at carolinajournal.com and johnlocke.org McCrory Signs Bill Repealing Common Core State Board to adopt best standards, maybe some Common Core By Barry Smith Associate Editor RALEIGH ov. Pat McCrory on July 22 signed into law Senate Bill 812, legislation rewriting the edu- Gcational standards in the state’s pub- lic schools and, as supporters argue, leading to the re- placement of feder- The Common Core curriculum has been controversial from the start, with passionate adherents on both sides. Opponents claim ally inspired Com- it was developed in secret and pushed full-blown on the states. Proponents say the nation needs federally mandated common mon Core State education standards. Standards with standards appro- mission to recommend rigorous and it would have banned all Common Although the federal government did priate for North age-appropriate standards for North Core standards. not develop the standards, Washing- Carolina students. Carolina schools. The bill would not Common Core State Standards ton has helped pay for Common Core McCrory, in a prevent the adoption of individual are curriculum and instructional stan- tests. The U.S. Department of Educa- statement released Gov. Pat McCrory Common Core standards if the com- dards in English language arts and tion has meshed Common Core stan- when he signed mission deemed them appropriate. mathematics for students in kindergar- dards within the Obama administra- the bill, argued that S.B. 812 “does not The final law was similar to a ten through 12th grade. The National tion’s Race to the Top program. change any of North Carolina’s educa- Senate version of the bill passed by Governors Association, the Council S.B. 812 “does initiate a much- tion standards.” that chamber earlier in the legislative of Chief State School Officers, and needed, comprehensive and thorough The new law replaces Common session. The original House version of Achieve Inc. developed them. review of standards,” McCrory said. Core standards. It sets up an 11-mem- the bill would have established a com- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foun- ber advisory academic standards com- mission with two fewer members. And dation has funded much of the project. Continued as “McCrory,” Page 14 Elections Board Looking at Wray Spending PAID along with $17,700 for meals and other RALEIGH, NC U.S. POSTAGE PERMIT NO. 1766 NONPROFIT ORG. spending. Investigation focuses Wray paid for these expenses from his campaign account, even on Democrat’s Campaign though he filed for and collected the per diem reimbursement every state fuel-purchase claims Fuel lawmaker is entitled to receive cover- ing many of the same expenses. By Don Carrington Purchases The board’s probe of Wray in- Executive Editor cludes several additional years of cam- RALEIGH paign spending. esponding to a State Board of The document — a spreadsheet The elections board “required Elections investigation looking intended to provide additional infor- that Wray provide details regard- into the possible use of cam- mation about his campaign spending ing documented meals, mileage, and Rpaign funds for personal benefit, state — attempts to match fuel and meal lodging expenditures which were not Rep. Michael Wray, D-Northampton, purchases he made from July 2011 to properly provided in the campaign’s has submitted a document to the board June 2013 with campaign or legislative disclosures,” said the board’s spokes- that is at odds with public statements activities. Over that period, his cam- man, Josh Lawson, to Carolina Journal. he has made about his campaign fund paign reports listed 427 fuel purchas- The John Locke Foundation 200 W. Morgan St., #200 Raleigh, NC 27601 spending. es amounting to more than $28,000, Continued as “Board,” Page 15 PAGE 2 AUGUST 2014 | CAROLINA JOURNAL North CaroliNa C A R O L I N A General Assembly to Hold Special Medicaid Session By Dan Way ly enhanced benefit packages,” Senior said. “They started JOURNAL Associate Editor offering services that had never been offered before in the RALEIGH former Medicaid program.” Rick Henderson edicaid reform will have to wait until fall, as the That was particularly true for adult services such as Managing Editor two chambers of the General Assembly were un- dental, expanded outpatient benefits, and expanded physi- able to agree on structural changes in the health in- cian services. Don Carrington Msurance program for the poor, disabled, and elderly before “Overall, the plans have committed to increasing pro- Executive Editor lawmakers took a lengthy recess. vider reimbursement rates for physicians significantly after The state Senate on July 24 voted to shift Medicaid two full years of operation,” Senior said. That is the oppo- from the current fee-for-service model to one paying pro- site of what critics of the North Carolina Senate plan have Mitch Kokai, Michael Lowrey viders a set per-member-per month fee, moving Medicaid said would happen to provider rates under managed care. Barry Smith, Dan Way from the Department of Health and Human Services to a In an environment where patients can choose among Associate Editors new department, and allowing hospital- and physician-led competing options, plans must attract good doctors and accountable care organizations to bid against insurance- nurses, offer innovative service packages, and do quality Chad Adams, Kristy Bailey based managed-care organizations for regional contracts. work. Plans that fail to meet health quality outcomes and David N. Bass, Lloyd Billingsley The health plans would pick up any costs exceeding their patient satisfaction standards could be assessed damages or Kristen Blair, Roy Cordato budgets. lose their contracts. Becki Gray, Sam A. Hieb The House, however, refused to agree to the Senate Senior said Florida encountered two types of physi- Lindalyn Kakadelis, Troy Kickler changes, voting 106-0 July 30 to reject the cians when the state moved to George Leef, Elizabeth Lincicome Senate rewrite of House Bill 1181. After competitive bidding and plans Karen McMahan, Donna Martinez the two chambers agreed on an updated capping annual per-patient pay- Karen Palasek, Marc Rotterman $21.3 billion General Fund budget plan ments. Jesse Saffron, Michael Sanera George Stephens, Terry Stoops for the current fiscal year, lawmakers “There were some provid- Andy Taylor, Michael Walden said they would return in the fall to deal ers who really pushed back hard, Karen Welsh, Hal Young with Medicaid reform. that were ambivalent about the John Calvin Young Under the Senate’s model, a new new system, didn’t like it,” he Contributors Department of Medical Benefits would said. have opened its doors in September to A second group of prac- Julia Albert, Joseph Chesser begin assuming Medicaid responsibili- tices “have embraced the system, Chad Higgenbottom, Matt Shaeffer ties from DHHS. By July 1, 2016, if the [and] have done very well,” Se- Emma Wheeler DMB had received approval from feder- nior said. Pediatric Associates of Interns al regulators, it would become the state’s Broward County is just one ex- Medicaid agency. And by July 2018, all ample of a practice that has done Published by The John Locke Foundation Medicaid plans in the state, both provider-led and managed so well that it is expected to expand statewide. 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 care, would assume full risk for any cost overruns. Gregory Griggs, executive vice president of the North Raleigh, N.C. 27601 Carolina Academy of Family Physicians, is among critics of (919) 828-3876 • Fax: 821-5117 Mirrors McCrory’s plan the Senate plan. His group backs the House version. www.JohnLocke.org The version of H.B. 1181 that passed the House mir- “Any cost savings they achieve are going to be taken rors Gov. Pat McCrory’s vision of ACO, provider-led plans. out of state and not reinvested in North Carolina,” he said of managed-care organizations. “If you look at the quality Jon Ham That bill contains far fewer details than the Senate’s version. Florida Medicaid director Justin Senior is not surprised metrics that other states have put forward, the Medicaid Vice President & Publisher HMOs fall well behind what Community Care of North that some North Carolina doctors and hospitals object to Carolina does.” John Hood the Senate’s Medicaid plan. The Sunshine State experienced Chairman & President provider pushback while implementing a similar plan that CCNC vs. managed care this year is expected to save taxpayers $600 million. Herb Berkowitz, Charlie Carter “Change is difficult for providers to get used to,” Se- But critics of the nonprofit CCNC, which adminis- Jim Fulghum, Chuck Fuller nior said. “They have a certain way of doing business in ters Medicaid for North Carolina under contract, say fed- Bill Graham, Assad Meymandi terms of the way that they bill, and how they provide servic- eral data demonstrate that CCNC does more poorly than Baker A. Mitchell Jr., Carl Mumpower managed care on a number of measures, and Kaiser Family David Stover, J.M Bryan Taylor es. It is set up in accordance with the incentive structure of Foundation reporting lists North Carolina’s Medicaid costs Andy Wells the fee-for-service system, and they’re comfortable with it.” Board of Directors Fee-for-service systems pay health providers for every under CCNC among the highest in the nation. patient visit and service delivered.