NEWS: S.C. to put ‘bold-print’ on potentially ‘predatory’ health insurance plans
NEWS BRIEFS: State sees $177M surplus, more
CALENDAR: ACLU schedules back-to-back events
COMMENTARY, Brack: Go the extra mile, do the extra work and exceed expectations
SPOTLIGHT: S.C. Independent Colleges and Universities, Inc.
FEEDBACK: Readers respond positively to column on Riley’s leadership
MYSTERY PHOTO: Straight out of the 1950s
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: The lettered olive, state shell
NEWS
NEWS: S.C. to put ‘bold-print’ on potentially ‘predatory’ health insurance plans
By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | South Carolina’s insurance regulator says it will ensure consumers are aware of limitations of short-term health insurance, which is no longer is strictly regulated by the federal government.
In an exclusive interview, S.C. Department of Insurance (SCDOI) Director Ray Farmer said the state agency is currently drafting rules in response to a Trump administration directive that allows “skimpy” health plans to offer coverage for longer time periods. Short-term health plans do not have to cover prescription drugs, maternity care or people with pre-existing medical conditions.
“We are developing our own rules (to regulate the plans),” Farmer told Statehouse Report. “We want to make sure consumers read and understand their policy. Short-term limited-duration insurance is minimal coverage for a lower price than policies on the individual market. This is not major medical coverage and is only an ideal option for a limited number of people.”
Short-term health plans will now be allowed to offer coverage up to 12 months, and can be renewed up to 36 months, unless state legislatures or state insurance agencies further restrict the plans. Previously under Affordable Care Act rules, the plans could only offer coverage up to three months, and came with 14-font print that explained the limitations of the coverage.
The leader of the state Senate committee on insurance told Statehouse Report that there has been no such proposal to further restrict the plans legislatively in South Carolina. However, Chairman Ronnie Cromer, R-Lexington, said it may be October or November before lawmakers begin discussing regulation. Staff and members of the House’s similar committee did not respond to a request to comment on whether lawmakers are mulling further restrictions.
Plans to be sold soon
The expanded plans, which can deny a person for pre-existing conditions, can be sold as soon as Oct. 2, Farmer said.
Farmer said that in South Carolina there will be a requirement for insurance policies to have “bold print” that the plan does not include major medical events, similar to the old federal rules.
Health care experts around the state are expecting an increased number of these plans in the state, and they anticipate there could be consumer confusion, resulting in paying premiums for a plan that does not offer coverage for comprehensive care or major medical health issues.
“You’re going to see a greater appetite in the market for these plans for the people who can’t afford comprehensive medical coverage,” Columbia insurance broker Joel Lourie told Statehouse Report. Lourie is a former Democratic state senator for Kershaw and Richland counties. “We’ve got a real responsibility to make sure clients understand what they’re getting into what’s covered and not covered.”
An October 2017 executive order by President Donald Trump triggered the federal rule allowing extended short-term plans. It is widely viewed as one part of his effort to dismantle his predecessor’s health care legacy, the Affordable Care Act.
Farmer and Lourie said the type of health insurance coverage offered by these plans are necessary in the market.
“Short-term, limited-duration insurance is a type of health insurance coverage that was primarily designed to fill gaps in coverage that may occur when an individual is transitioning from one plan of coverage to another plan of coverage, such as in between jobs,” Farmer said.
Short-term plans cause concerns, have risk
Health care economist Lynn Bailey called short-term health insurance plans the “payday lending of health insurance” and “predatory.”
“You got to read the fine print and see what you aren’t paying for,” she said. “It puts the risk back on the patient that you just hope and pray that you don’t have a dread disease … People think they have insurance and they don’t.”
She said that while the plans appear affordable, many people will find they have been paying a premium and getting little in return.
“So where do people go when they are sick and they don’t have money? You go to the hospitals and they will be looking at rising and uncompensated care and the inability to increase rates to cover them,” Bailey said.
She said it could also negatively impact the health of residents in the state, which already scores low on several national lists for health outcomes (Most recently, the state ranked among the worst places to have a baby due to health care access).
“What you have to do to remain healthy is you should regularly see health care providers,” she said, adding that short-term plans do not pay for this type of care.
In addition to providing “gap” coverage, proponents of the plan also say they could help drive down rising insurance prices. But Bailey said the short-term plans won’t cause competition in the comprehensive care market, and could cause those plans to increase due to healthy consumers moving to short-term plans, rather than help buffer health care costs across the market.
S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center Executive Director Sue Berkowitz, who runs the nonprofit that offers legal help for the state’s poorest residents, said the plans could also deter people from receiving subsidized health insurance available through the state’s only provider, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.
“My biggest concern is that people are going to be steered into these kind of plans rather than understanding that they could be eligible for an exchange plan, and people will end up getting less for more money,” Berkowitz said. “It will push people away from regular exchange plans, which are the plans that give more robust benefits to folk, as a way to provide not much benefit and for companies to be able to get a premium.”
Lourie said he will not recommend the plan to clients except in special cases.
“My recommendation to clients is if they can afford major medical coverage, they should get it,” he said.
Farmer also urged caution with the plans.
“Just remember, you get what you pay for,” Farmer said. “I urge every consumer to read their policy and policy provisions carefully. If a consumer would like help assessing their policy, they can reach out to the Department of Consumer Services here at the SCDOI.”
Varying restrictions
South Carolina’s proposed rules join a fabric of state rules nationwide. Here are a few recently passed bills:
- Maryland: Limits short-term plans to less than three months and does not allow insurers to extend or renew short-term plans.
- Vermont: Limits short-term plans to less than three months, does not allow insurers to extend or renew short-term plans, and requires disclosure language.
- Hawaii: Prohibits selling of short-term plans to those eligible to buying coverage through the ACA marketplace during the enrollment period.
- Illinois: Limits short-term plans to six months, restricts extensions and renewals, and requires warning language for consumers. (This bill has not been signed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.)
Prior to this year’s federal action, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York prohibited short-term plans, and Oregon limited short-term plans to three months or less and restricted renewals.
State insurance departments, like South Carolina’s, have also been responding. For example, Washington state’s insurance commission will seek to limit plans to three months and prohibit renewals. Tennessee’s agency is also looking to help inform consumers of the plans’ limitations.
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
NEWS BRIEFS
BRIEFS: State sees $177M surplus, more
By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | South Carolina ended the 2018 fiscal year on June 30 with $177 million more in the coffers than expected, according to a press release from the S.C. Comptroller’s Office.
But with great surplus comes great responsibility, or so Comptroller Richard Eckstrom warned.
“It’s worth remembering that good times don’t last forever,” Eckstrom wrote. “The General Assembly would be wise to resist any ‘spending spree’ temptation, considering instead using some or all of the surplus revenue to shore up the state’s all-important rainy-day balances. Restraint now could avert a crisis in the lean years that are sure to come.”
He continued that he considered it “wise” to put any surplus toward the state’s retirement system.
General fund revenues increased by $542 million over the previous year’s revenues, bringing in $8.1 billion in fiscal year 2018 compared with $7.6 billion in fiscal year 2017, a 7 percent growth rate. Most of the $542 million of additional revenue was claimed by increased spending in 2018 but there was $177 million non-obligated.
“Finishing the year with such a large surplus is obviously great news – a testament to the strength of our state’s economy, which is experiencing broad growth with increases in employment, personal income, and take-home pay,” Eckstrom wrote in the press release.
Nonetheless, some words of caution are in order.
In the budget, lawmakers designated any surplus to roll over into the following year’s contingency fund, according to a House staff member. Lawmakers could decide what to do with that one-time money in January, according to a Senate staff member.
In other news this week:
Conformity. State senators met again this week to discuss when and how to align the state’s tax code with the federal government’s to avoid taxpayer headaches, help with compliance and also avoid an unintended tax hike due to lost deductions. S.C. Sen. Ronnie Cromer, R-Lexington, who serves on the conformity subcommittee, told Statehouse Report he expects lawmakers to address conformity in September. Requests for comment from President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman in the Senate and House Speaker Jay Lucas were not returned.
Internet sales tax. Beginning Oct. 1, the state will begin collecting sales tax from internet sales to buyers in South Carolina. A U.S. Supreme Court decision paved the way for the move, in which the state was already threatening action against Amazon for third-party sales. Read more here.
Drunk driving. South Carolina has found itself at the top of another not-so-good list. The state has the second highest number of drunk-driving fatalities in the nation, according to a study by home security company SafeWise. Montana was the only state worse than South Carolina. In the Palmetto State, there were 7.98 impaired driving fatalities per 100,000 residents. To compare, South Carolina’s marriage rate is 6.6 per 100,000 people annually. That means there are more people dying from drunk driving every year than getting married in the state, if you compare the death rates from SafeWise and from CDC.
Agriculture online. The state’s only urban permaculture farm and grocery Fresh Future Farm of North Charleston has teamed up with Lowcountry Rice Culture Project and Benedict College to launch an online certificate program. The Agricultural Entrepreneurship Certificate Program will offer learning for students in on-site practicums at Fresh Future Farm and virtually with video footage. Fresh Future Farm has earned national acclaim for bringing fresh food to the food desert of North Charleston. Watch the press conference here.
AHEAD: ACLU schedules back-to-back events
Staff reports | The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Here are two events the organization is putting on in September:
- Shared racial history. At 6 p.m. Sept. 20 at Burke High School in Charleston, Deputy Legal Director Jeffrey Robinson will deliver a talk about the country’s shared racial history and how to unite America as a nation. Robinson also is director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality, a project focusing on criminal justice reform.
- Five decades of service. The following week on Sept. 27 at 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Republic Garden & Lounge on King Street in Charleston, the South Carolina office of the ACLU will hold an anniversary celebration with a keynote speech from Faiz Shakir, national political director of the ACLU. He is expected to provide updates on national community engagement efforts.
Here’s what’s coming up in the legislature:
Have an event to add to the calendar? Send to: feedback@statheousereport.com
BRACK: Go the extra mile, do the extra work and exceed expectations
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | With hundreds of thousands of South Carolina students headed back to classrooms soon, here’s hoping that it will be their best year ever, a year in which they exceed the expectations of their parents and teachers, a year in which they work harder to achieve excellence.
If we all exceed expectations, we’ll change the places where we learn, work and play. Imagine if 700,000 public school students did better in the classroom. Not only would they perform better in an irritating flurry of standardized tests. But they would also create a more positive, competitive learning environment that might change the pathways of their lives.
The story of Joshie the Giraffe illustrates the importance of doing more than required.
A few years ago, a family vacationed in the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island in Florida. Upon arriving home, the parents discovered their young son’s stuffed giraffe Joshie didn’t return with them. Joshie, it appeared, was lost. The boy panicked at the prospect of going to sleep without Joshie.
Businessman Chris Hurn told his son Joshie was fine. “’He’s just taking an extra long vacation at the resort, ‘he wrote in 2012 in Huffington Post. “My son seemed to buy it, and was finally able to fall asleep, Joshie-less for the first time in a long while.”
Fortunately, the Ritz-Carlton staff found Joshie that night. Hurn asked the staff to take a photo of Joshie in a lounge chair by the pool to reassure his son.
But the staff went way beyond one photo. They took pictures of Joshie all over the property. One photo showed him with cucumber slices on his eyes while getting a massage. In another, Joshie lounged with other stuffed animals and a real parrot. He drove a golf cart on the beach. And finally, as a new member of the hotel’s Loss Prevention Team, they snapped a picture of him watching security footage.
Joshie and the photos soon arrived an album with a cache of hotel goodies. The Hurn family was blown away by how the staff exceeded expectations for guests that had already checked out.
Joshie’s story went viral on social media. But it didn’t end there. Three years later, Joshie got left accidentally in another Florida hotel room. Again, the boy was distraught. The parents couldn’t find another Joshie, so they bought a stand-in giraffe soon named Tucker.
Later that year, the family returned to the Ritz-Carlton. Staffers were saddened to learn Joshie was again missing.
“Later that afternoon someone knocked on the door of our room and handed my son a bag with his name on it,” Hurn wrote in a follow-up column. “ In it was another stuffed giraffe with a small note around his neck introducing him as ‘Jeffie,’ a long-lost cousin of Joshie’s. The note said that while Joshie is off on his worldwide adventures, Jeffie would be honored to be his new companion. It also said he likes warm hugs.”
None of that was in anyone’s job description. But the staff went the extra mile to make a little boy happy. It’s what authors Chris Heath and Dan Heath called “breaking the script” of what was expected with a strategic surprise. They related the story of Joshie in their 2017 book, “The Power of Moments.”
Charleston School of Law Dean Andy Abrams shared the Joshie’s story with faculty and staff as they prepared to welcome students.
“The story is about the commitment of people to not just meet but to exceed expectations, and it resonated for me because it reminded me of the kind of culture so many of you work so hard to nurture daily here at the Charleston School of Law,” he wrote in an email. “It also underscored the impact that your small acts of kindness and compassion can sometimes have.”
For students, teachers, administrators and anyone in a service-oriented business, the inspiring story of Joshie the Giraffe highlights how good things can happen by embracing a lifestyle of exceeding expectations and striving for excellence.
And it reinforces one suggestion my daughters frequently hear about school work: Always do the extra credit. It will always help you.
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
SPOTLIGHT
SPOTLIGHT: S.C. Independent Colleges and Universities, Inc.
Today we shine a spotlight on the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, Inc. (SCICU), a charitable organization that represents 20 independent institutions of higher learning from across the Palmetto State.
SCICU members each have a unique historical, cultural, and in many instances, faith background. Included in the membership are five historically black colleges and universities and two women’s colleges.
The organization supports and promotes the values of independent higher education in South Carolina. SCICU seeks to advance higher education through fundraising, scholarships, and research, as well as by facilitating collaborative activities among the member institutions. SCICU also enhances a positive public image and encourages government policies that support independent higher education.
South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities’ member institutions enroll over 34,000 students each year and offer a wide variety of traditional degree programs as well as accelerated and evening programs for adults. These colleges and universities play a significant role in helping the state achieve its economic and postsecondary education goals in three key areas:
(1) Increasing choices and opportunities for postsecondary education,
(2) Strengthening our state’s economy and future tax base by preparing students to compete in today’s knowledge economy on a local and global level, and
(3) Creating the next generation of value-oriented leaders firmly grounded in the precept of service above self.
- To learn more about South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, click here.
FEEDBACK
FEEDBACK: Readers respond positively to column on Riley’s leadership
To the editor:
Your feature on the USC Library’s event celebrating the opening of Gov. Dick Riley’s papers is the best coverage I’ve read.
I was particularly taken by your characterizing Riley as “a quiet lion of a leader.”
— Herb Hartsook, West Columbia, S.C.
To the editor:
Amen to that. Feeling really blessed to have had the opportunity to work with/for real public servants like Dick Riley and Fritz Hollings.
— Laura Morris, Mount Pleasant, S.C.
To the editor:
One hell of a good man!
— Chip Brown, Conway, S.C.
Send us your thoughts. We love hearing from our readers and encourage you to share your opinions. But you’ve got to provide us with contact information so we can verify your letters. Letters to the editor are published weekly. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. Comments are limited to 250 words or less. Please include your name and contact information.
- Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com
MYSTERY PHOTO: Straight out of the 1950s
This building would have been very modern 60 years ago, but what is it today? Send your guess to: feedback@statehousereport.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo
Our Aug. 10 mystery was the gazebo, or bandstand, built in Charleston’s Hampton Park for the S.C. Inter-State and West Indian Exposition of 1901-02.
Interestingly, no Charleston residents guessed the mystery in their backyard. But hats off to these sleuths: Steve Willis of Lancaster; Philip Cromer of Beaufort; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Jean Prothro, Jay Altman and Val Valenta, all of Columbia, S.C.; Don Clark of Hartsville; and Greg W. Anderson of Edgefield.
First-time submitter Anderson shared that he loves Statehouse Report and always takes a quiet guess at the Mystery Photo, but said he only sent his first guess in last week. If you’re guessing, but not submitting, let us know what you think the mystery is. We’d love to hear from you. (If you miss, we won’t let people know of the error!)
Cromer supplied some background: The gazebo, or bandstand, was “erected for the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition which occurred from Dec.1, 1901, until May 31, 1902. This exposition was visited by President Teddy Roosevelt.
“Hampton Park was originally Orange Grove Plantation owned by a Gibbes, and later became the site of Washington Race Course owned by the South Carolina Jockey Club. The property was deeded to the Charleston Library Society which leased it for the Exposition. Later, it was purchased by the City of Charleston for a park and named for General/Governor Wade Hampton.”
Graf provided some other interesting information about the land that now is a 60-acre park. “ According to charlestondaily.net:
- “From 1792 – 1900, Hampton Park was a horse racing track called Washington Race Track. It was started by the South Carolina Jockey Club. Though the track was historically closed in 1900, the last race was in 1877 due to the damage caused by the Civil War.
- “During the Civil War, the land was used as a prisoner of war camp for Union Soldiers being moved from Andersonville, Georgia to Florence, South Carolina. Over 200 died due to illness and are buried in unmarked graves near the parking lot on the Wagoner Terrance side.
- “In 1901, several businessmen decided to hold a regional trade exposition in Charleston and bought the land from the Charleston Library Society for part of the grounds. The Expo was considered a failure by many but in 1902 Teddy Roosevelt came to the event and one year, the actual Liberty Bell made an appearance. Officially called the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition, this event brought new business to Charleston including the American Cigar Company and United Fruit Company.
- “The Boston Bean Eaters (today known as the Atlanta Braves) held two weeks of spring training in the park in 1905, and lost to the Detroit Tigers.
- “Mr. Archer Huntington donated $1000 and a collection of exotic animals from his personal collection at Brookgreen Gardens to get a zoo started in 1932. zoo included lions, bears, and native species in a series of big chain link cages located between the current bandstand and the Cleveland Street entrance. By 1972, the zoo was in such bad condition, it was deemed in violation of new federal codes of animal welfare treatment and was soon closed.”
Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA
HISTORY: The lettered olive, South Carolina’s state shell
S.C. Encyclopedia | The lettered olive (Oliva sayana) was declared the official state shell in legislation approved by Governor Richard Riley on May 8, 1984. In the act, legislators described the South Carolina coast as “one of the most widely promoted areas . . . for recreation and tourism” and noted that shelling along the state’s beaches had become “increasingly popular among residents as well as with the tourist trade.”
The lettered olive is prolific on the South Carolina coast. Dr. Edmund Ravenel, a Charleston physician who attained international renown as a pioneer conchologist, first recognized the lettered olive in 1834. He assembled a famous collection of mollusks from the waters and wetlands of the Charleston area and published the catalog of this collection in 1834. That work contained descriptions of several new mollusks, including the lettered olive.
Oliva sayana is a predatory snail that lives in sandy environments from the intertidal zone down to twenty feet. It spends most of its time burrowing through the sand in search of prey. The shells are two to two and one-half inches in length and are colored grayish tan with brownish-purple zigzag bands. Their supposed resemblance to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs gave rise to the name “lettered.”
The shell, much prized by collectors, is highly polished because the mollusk’s mantle, or shell building tissue, is large and envelops the entire shell while the creature is burrowing, protecting it from corrosive sand. Lettered olives are sometimes seen on the surface of the sand at night, and it is believed that they can flap their mantle lobes and swim through the shallow water, increasing their predatory range.
— Excerpted from an entry by Henry H. Lesesne. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia, published in 2006 by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)
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Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided to you at no charge every Friday.
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- Statehouse correspondent: Lindsay Street
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