THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240487
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Providing health insurance for the nearly 1 million North Carolinians who are without such coverage may cost more than the state's taxpayers are willing to spend, the leader of the state Senate said Tuesday.
``We have made a number of revisions to our health care system in recent years, but revisions don't offer basic health care for North Carolinians,'' said Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare.
``Nobody's going to raise taxes to fund health care for 916,000 people,'' he said.
Basnight is one of 16 members of the state Health Planning Commission that met in Raleigh Tuesday to hear testimony on the costs of health care to government, businesses and families in the state.
The panel, comprising Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. and some of the state's highest ranking lawmakers, was created by the General Assembly in 1993 to develop a health care program to provide all North Carolinians with access to health care. The commission is scheduled to develop a comprehensive health care bill to submit to the General Assembly in 1995.
Ultimately the issue of health care reform in North Carolina will depend on what action Congress takes this year and costs, Basnight said.
``The issue will boil down to how you'll pay for it,'' Basnight said. ``I haven't seen any proposals, much less anything that you could accept.''
Commission members reviewed several types of health care reform packages Tuesday - including models for employer-mandated health insurance, managed competition plans similar to the plan proposed by President Clinton and a plan, known as single payer, under which government pays the cost of health care.
But regardless of the way legislators package health care reform, they will not likely see the cost of health care in North Carolina drop, said John Sheils, a vice president with Lewin VHI Inc. of Virginia, a consulting firm.
Health care reform will likely involve some type of tax increase and government mandate, he said.
``If you want everybody to have insurance, you're going to have to help a lot of people pay for it,'' said Sheils.
The total cost of health care in North Carolina has increased dramatically during the last two decades - from about $1 billion in 1966 to $21 billion in 1994, according to Chris Conover of the Center for Health Policy Research and Education.
And government, businesses and families throughout the state say these health care costs are wreaking havoc with their budgets.
Per person spending on health care averages about $2,743, or about 9.8 percent of the disposable income of the average state resident, with about 47 percent of that going for hospital expenses. North Carolinians 65 years old and older pay the most each year, about $8,088 for their health care, Conover said.
Besides these charges, a typical North Carolina family spends over $1,100 to subsidize care for those without insurance, according to Conover.
Generally, per person spending for health care in North Carolina is less than the national average of about $3,500 per year. North Carolinians pay less for hospital stays and doctor visits than the national average. But spending on drugs and related items, such as bandages, is higher than average.
During the meeting and in interviews afterwards, some government leaders said health care reform will likely be one of the top priorities of the state legislature when it reconvenes in January, depending on what action Congress takes on the issue.
Hunt said North Carolina may be able to come up with a better plan for its residents if state leaders develop the plan.
``If we wind up having to do it, then we'll decide what it is. . .and maybe do it more efficiently,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic Health Spending
[How much a North Carolina resident spends per person on health care
compared to the U.S average.]
Source: Duke University, Center for Health Policy Research and
Education.
For copy of graphic, please see microfilm.
KEYWORDS: HEALTH INSURANCE HEALTH CARE TAX INCREASE
by CNB