Remove North Carolina’s state health plan blindfolds

Imagine that your daughter is buying her first car. She asks for your advice on picking one, because she doesn’t have a good sense of how much to pay or how to choose. 

You might explain to her what different kinds of cars typically cost. You might send her to see a trusted salesperson. But you probably wouldn’t hand her your credit card, blindfold her, let her walk into the nearest dealership and tell her you’ll pay for the first car she touches. 

Yet that’s the current approach used by North Carolina to pay for healthcare for teachers, nurses, state troopers and retirees on the state health plan. Without price transparency, public servants are getting ripped off, or, even worse, they’re forced to skip needed care because they fear an unknown cost. 

Read the full commentary in the North State Journal.