NEWS: Innovative S.C. program helps people find health insurance
NEWS BRIEFS: Could gubernatorial influence affect USC’s accreditation? Maybe, group says
COMMENTARY, Brack: Redrawing voting districts as usual could cripple representative democracy
SPOTLIGHT: AT&T
FEEDBACK: Open letter to USC Board of Trustees
MYSTERY PHOTO: Patriotic tombstone
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Dixie Hummingbirds
NEWSBIG STORY: Innovative program helps people find health insurance
By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | As federal funding dried up for health insurance navigators, a South Carolina nonprofit embarked on an innovative venture to continue helping people find the right health care insurance options for them.
The Palmetto Project launched its nonprofit insurance brokerage InsureSC in 2018, when it ended its four-year contract with the federal government as an Affordable Care Act navigator. In its first year, it has helped hundreds of people find health insurance.
The new program is unique for the state and among only a handful nationwide.
“We are already getting lots of national interest as it could be a model other states and communities might emulate should (Affordable Care Act) hostility persist in Washington,” Palmetto Project Executive Director Steve Skardon said.
Palmetto Project Director of Programs Shelli Quenga oversees the brokerage, which has seven employees, based in Charleston and Columbia, and also offers services statewide via telephone.
Unlike for-profit insurance brokers who receive a commission from insurance companies, Quenga said InsureSC brokers earn a set salary, which means they do not have a financial incentive to steer someone away from Medicaid or other lower-cost options.
InsureSC isn’t yet self-sustaining from the commissions it receives — it has a two-year goal for that. Currently, the program is aided by its parent organization, loans, grants and private donors, according to staff.
Under the new model, former navigators can help more people. As ACA navigators, the project was unable to work with Medicare options.
“We wanted to be able to do whatever work needed for that individual sitting in front of us,” Quenga said.
Navigators were funded through the Affordable Care Act and charged with helping people find health insurance through the subsidized, individual marketplace. Since President Donald Trump assumed office, funding for parts of the act, including navigator money, has been cut or challenged in court.
“A lot of the former navigator grantees or even current grantees are trying to figure out what they can do to make sure help is continuously available to their communities,” Quenga said.
Kaiser Family Foundation senior fellow Karen Pollitz has followed Palmetto Project’s transition and is watching as navigators evolve.
“It wasn’t a desire to be a broker. It was a desire to get paid to get assistance to people,” Pollitz said. “It’s a really interesting turn of events.”
Pollitz said federal funding for navigators has “really been decimated” since 2016. She said the funding was already not enough at $60 million, and now it’s under $10 million.
According to government documents, federal funding this year for navigators in South Carolina is $300,000 and there is only one navigator: DECO Recovery Management, a nationwide hospital debt-services company. In 2016, South Carolina received $1.5 million. That represents an 80 percent cut in navigator spending in the state.
“Some programs have found a way to keep going … at a reduced level,” Pollitz said. “A handful went this other route.”
Similar organizations are few and far between
According to Quenga and Pollitz, InsureSC has few peers. Utah is setting up a nonprofit agency and Georgia has one nonprofit broker. Other states, such as North Carolina and Florida, have found other ways to help keep navigator-like services available.
How successful these programs and nonprofit brokers are will likely remain unknown. Pollitz said the data on navigators and their rates of signing people up will not translate over to these new entities.
“(But) we know it makes a difference,” she said. “We knew from our surveys that marketplace navigators provided a really important community outreach.”
New data was not available from Palmetto Project, but Quenga said as of end of December, InsureSC enrolled 768 in the ACA marketplace, and 63 in Medicare Advantage. The average person they helped was in the 55- to 64-year-old age range. Those numbers reflect only months of work by the broker.
Quenga said one of the surprising parts of the new gig has been the “ridiculously confusing” Medicare system.
“Regardless of what your income, education or expertise level in your field when it comes to medicare if you’re not doing that work day in and day out you will most likely need help,” she said.
So what does the future hold for InsureSC? Quenga said with the decreased regulations on short-term health plans and potential for rate increases for subsidized insurance plans (which should be announced next month), the staff is ready to continue helping consumers figure out how to afford health care.
“We are still always looking at increasing access to affordable quality health care for everyone,” she said. “Sometimes we patch together care through community health care centers, free clinics … but that’s not access to care.”
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
NEWS BRIEFS
Could gubernatorial influence affect USC’s accreditation? Maybe, group says
By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | Gov. Henry McMaster’s pressure on the University of South Carolina’s board of trustees to hire a president could threaten the school’s federal funding, according to the school’s accrediting association.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) is the accrediting body for the university. Accreditation is necessary for it to receive Title IV funds, which helps lower-income students pay for college.
The association outlines standards in its Principles of Accreditation for universities and their governing boards to adhere to earn and maintain accreditation. According to the standards, a governing board “protects the institution from undue influence by external persons or bodies. (External influence)”
SACSCOC President Belle Wheelan said in an email to Statehouse Report that the association is looking into the situation at USC:
“Anyone not affiliated with (employees, students, board members, etc.) is considered external. Yes, gubernatorial influence would count. The (scheduled) vote itself would not threaten the institution’s accreditation; however, the governor’s involvement in the process might.”
When asked whether McMaster’s role as ex-officio board chair exempted him as an “external source,” Wheelan responded: “Not necessarily. It depends on whether he is acting as a board member with only one vote along with the other board members or if he’s pulling rank as governor. It’s complicated, as you can tell.”
McMaster is pushing for the board to hire former West Point leader Robert Caslen, and called for a meeting to happen today. That meeting, however, was ultimately delayed by a state court judge over notification concerns. A court hearing on the trustee meeting is scheduled for July 19. In April, students rallied to oppose hiring Caslen. President Harris Pastides, who has guided the university since 2008, will step down from the post effective July 31.
McMaster’s office has not replied to a request for a comment.
In other news:
DHEC says no to seismic testing applicant. Environmentalists in South Carolina cheered this week after the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control denied a permit to WesternGeco LLC, which sought to use seismic testing off the coast to find oil and natural gas. More than 1,700 South Carolinians weighed in during the agency’s Coastal Zone Consistency review of the permit application, and every comment opposed seismic testing. DHEC determined the proposed seismic activities were not consistent with its coastal management policies. Read the decision here.
Education reform back in Columbia. A panel of state senators met this week to review the massive education overhaul bill, specifically looking at school accountability and state takeovers. Read more.
S.C. ranks well on human trafficking response. South Carolina is among the most improved states when it comes to its response on human trafficking, but more work remains. Read the report.
Review of job agency shows work needed. The Legislative Audit Council reviewed the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce and found that the agency needs improvement, particularly should the jobless rate climb in the state. Findings include:
- DEW has failed its Tax Performance System reviews since 2011, requiring corrective action plans;
- DEW has not implemented recommendations from an independent consulting firm for improvement of financial operations;
- DEW staff is double-keying some of its financial information into two systems, creating efficiency issues since 2016;
- The performance measures used by DEW do not capture the effectiveness of its reemployment programs; and,
- DEW has essentially stopped prosecutions for fraud, having prosecuted only two cases since 2014.
2020 candidate calendar
Throughout the campaign season, we are working to keep South Carolina informed of candidate events in the state. Have an event you want us to know about? Email us at 2020news@statehousereport.com.
Wayne Messum. The candidate will appear 6:30 a.m. July 13 at the Columbia riverfront, 9:45 a.m. July 13 at a meet and greet with Richland Northeast Democrats at Woodlands Golf & Country Club in Columbia, and 10 a.m. July 14 at Second Nazareth Church in Columbia.
Looking ahead
Click below for other items coming up in the Statehouse:
Find any bill
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BRACK: Redrawing districts as usual could cripple representative democracy
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The S.C. General Assembly now has a license to steal your vote, courtesy of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a late June decision that surprised many students of representative democracy, the high court ruled it was perfectly fine for state legislatures to draw election district lines for partisan purposes.
In other words, the justices didn’t say no to past efforts by leaders to make districts more Democratic or Republican. The court essentially said it was OK to gerrymander district lines to give a huge advantage to one party over the other.
And guess who draws the lines? State legislators. In South Carolina – unless something dramatically changes in the 2020 elections for S.C. House and S.C. Senate – the June ruling means Republicans will work hard to create even more safe Republican seats so they can continue their death grip on the legislature.
In turn, that means the court’s decision is a victory for incumbency protection and, at least in South Carolina, for the GOP. It’s a huge loss for fairness and equal representation. And it makes the job of Democrats and third parties even harder. It means that if you live in a partisanized, gerrymandered precinct, your vote won’t really count – because in all likelihood, the favored party is going to win regardless.
This is wrong. It softens and weakens our democracy. Elections should actually be competitive, not artificially manipulated for political purposes.
To get an idea of how this kind of manipulation works, just look to South Carolina’s seven congressional districts today. After the 2010 census, state legislators redrew districts so six of the seven districts so favored the GOP that Democrats were essentially guaranteed only one seat in the U.S. House.
But it didn’t have to be that way. State lawmakers could have redrawn maps in 2010 to shift some voters from the majority-minority district in the middle part of the state to the state’s two coastal districts. By boosting minority voting populations in those two districts by, say, 10 percentage points, Democrats would have had a fair chance of winning those seats. And more importantly, the districts would have looked and felt more like the actual population living there, making it more representative.
The same kind of shenanigans go on in the drawing of districts for S.C. House and S.C. Senate. In 2018, for example, a Statehouse Report study showed that of the 124 state House seats, 42 Republicans and 28 Democrats faced no challengers in the November election. More importantly, only 10 of the 124 elections were actually somewhat competitive, defined very loosely as elections where the margin of victory was less than 20 points.
Unfortunately these days, sophisticated computer mapping systems bundled with robust census data allow redistricting specialists to slice and dice things any way they want. That’s how you get district lines running along bike paths and rivers to connect communities otherwise disconnected. And that’s how you get only 10 truly competitive House districts in a state of 5 million people.
Something has to be done to keep politicians in office from controlling the districts in which they run.
First, urge state legislators to support efforts to draw fair lines by supporting proposed legislation in the General Assembly to do just that. If your official doesn’t sign on to a bill before the end of March, you can call them out – and file against them as being for powermongers against fair elections.
Second, support initiatives to put a constitutional amendment on the November 2020 ballot that would force the creation of a truly independent redistricting commission that would steer the power of drawing lines from legislators to citizens. This has been done in at least nine states – and it’s working to create fairer elections.
Third, vote against anyone who has been called out as being against fair elections.
Finally, if the good old boys are able to draw the lines however they want after the 2020 Census results become available in early 2021, you can give money to groups like the League of Women Voters or S.C. Progressive Network to help them file lawsuits to protect our democracy.
Let’s take away the redistricting car keys from state legislators and put them in the hands of the people.
- Andy Brack’s new book, “We Can Do Better, South Carolina,” is now available in paperback via Amazon.
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
SPOTLIGHT: AT&T
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FEEDBACKUSC Board of Trustees should find best president
Editor’s Note: The vote expected today has been delayed, but this letter raises a perspective that could provide insight.
To the editor:
An open letter to the USC Board of Trustees:
This phrase in The Post and Courier gives rise to very great concerns. “In what is being described as an “unprecedented move,” Gov. Henry McMaster reportedly could chair a meeting of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees on Friday to push it to approve a former head of West Point to become the university’s new president — despite opposition by faculty and students.
As a taxpayer, I do not expect you to do what this governor says as there will be a next one, nor were you given a rubber stamp to find favor with the present governor. Your obligation is to USC and hopefully taking the long view of enhancing the institution and its service.
I have no idea if the governor’s pick is the best pick or a fatal mistake or in between. That is your job and you are expected to find the best leader from among many, not just someone who is OK and the governor wants. If you do not have the best, keep the door open, reach out and invite the best in. Use the standards you expect students to be held to account for the school’s leader.
South Carolina is on the bottom of far too many bad lists and too few of the good lists. It is the patronage process that gets in the way of moving us in the right direction with the required speed attaining the intended outcome. If it is not ended here when and where is the right time? Going along to get along is the same road to a failure we have been on for too long. You need to do this right and well.
Do your best to find the best. If you cannot be satisfied that the pick represents your values and your best as a trustee, then be prepared to walk away. You will be able to hold your head up very high in your own and our eyes. Good hunting.
— Fred Palm, Edisto Island, S.C.
Send us your thoughts … or rants
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.
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Patriotic tombstone
Here’s a patriotic-themed Mystery Photo for the month we celebrate American independence. Try to figure which South Carolina patriot is buried at this site, and where it is. Send your guess about the location of this photo to feedback@statehousereport.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo
Our July 5 mystery, “Alternate view of Charleston site,” offered a view of outbuildings form the Aiken-Rhett House along Elizabeth Street in Charleston.
We had lots of readers guess correctly. A tip of the hat to: George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Alfred Ray, Addison Ingle, Justin Sample, Rhetta Mendelsohn and Jason Williams, all of Charleston; Charles Lesser and Jay Altman of Columbia; Jacie Godfrey of Florence; Frank Bouknight and Cassandra Chapin, both of Summerville; and Craig Shahan of Walterboro.
By coincidence, on the same morning that we snapped the photo, The New York Times published this article that outlined how some historic sites, such as the Aiken-Rhett House, now includes the perspectives of how enslaved people lived in these houses.
Graf provided more interesting context, according to TheTruthinHistoryInitiative.wordpress.com:
“William Aiken Jr. was an incredible businessman and politician in his own right and he was eventually elected as the Governor of our great state. He too was an antebellum rice and cotton Planter who personally owned upwards of 700 fellow human beings. This number made him one of the largest individual slaveholders our nation has ever had.
“The perception that those who were enslaved were only labor is an utter myth that has been perpetuated by the Planters themselves and those that have descended from them. The fact is those who were enslaved were not only the workforce they were the brains. It is they who had the knowhow and technology behind Charleston’s three most important cash crops, rice, Indigo and cotton. Without their collective intellectual input the successful cultivation of those three commodities would never have occurred on the scale they did.
“The proof of that here is once these African Americans were ‘emancipated’ and largely removed from the free labor equation both our cotton and our rice industry failed. Those that have descended from the Planter Aristocracy offer up numerous other excuses as to why these industries failed including General Sherman scorched earth policy, federal corruption, hurricanes, the boll weevil, among many others.”
- 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.
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA
HISTORY: Dixie Hummingbirds
S.C. Encyclopedia | Started in 1928 by 12-year-old James Davis and neighborhood friends Bonnie Gipson Jr., Fred Owens and Barney Parks, the gospel quartet—and later quintet—influenced scores of gospel, soul, and rock and roll artists. First called the Sterling High School Quartet, named for the high school the young men attended in their hometown of Greenville, the group made the transition from a cappella harmony singing at the Bethel Church of God to electrified music.
The group was singing professionally in churches and on the radio by the mid-1930s, and Davis wanted to name the group the South Carolina Hummingbirds but determined that that would be too long. The Birds, as their fans affectionately came to call them, drove to New York City to record twelve old-time harmony sides for the Decca label in 1938. That same year, with the addition of the 13-year-old singer and Spartanburg native Ira Tucker, the group moved toward a more powerful electric sound that served as a precursor to rock music. The group moved to Philadelphia in 1942, and Tucker worked his way from backing tenor into the group’s fiery and flamboyant (for the times and the genre of music) lead singer. By their 1952 recordings on the Peacock label, the Birds were on their way to gospel stardom.
The group is perhaps best known for their re-recording of “Loves Me Like a Rock” with the singer-songwriter Paul Simon in 1973, for which they won a Grammy Award. Artists as prominent as Stevie Wonder credit the Birds as a direct musical influence, drawing on Tucker’s audience interaction and his soaring, pleading vocals. William Bobo, who joined the group after Tucker, is considered to be one of the great bass singers in the history of American popular music. One reviewer wrote that the group claimed “almost universal recognition as the greatest Southern quartet of their generation.”
— Excerpted from an entry by Alan Richard. This entry may not have been updated since 2006. 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.)
Available in paperbrack, err, paperback
Now you can get a copy of editor and publisher Andy Brack’s We Can Do Better, South Carolina! ($14.99) as a paperback.
The book of essays offers incisive commentaries by editor and publisher Andy Brack on the American South, the common good and interesting South Carolina leaders, such as former U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, civil rights advocate Septima Clark, former S.C. Gov. David Beasley and more. There also are discussions on civil rights struggles with which the Palmetto State continues to grapple. as well as commentaries on politics, governments, the hangovers of South Carolina’s past and her future opportunities.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina! is also available exclusively as a Kindle book for $7.99. Click here to purchase a Kindle copy.
- If you have a comment or questions about the book, please let us know at: feedback@statehousereport.com.
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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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