RALEIGH, N.C. — Treasurer Brad Briner, who oversees North Carolina State Health Plan benefits, on Tuesday dismissed Atrium Health’s new Affordability Protection Program for plan members as a shell game that would shift costs onto the plan and North Carolina taxpayers.
Speaking after a Council of State meeting on Tuesday, Briner said Atrium is trying to pay copays so members keep using its hospitals, but that the plan’s total cost would rise by 30 to 40%. He urged members to ignore the offer, saying it will not see the light of day and that state and federal Stark law concerns apply. Open enrollment for the plan begins on Oct. 12, and Briner said the preferred-provider design will not change at this point.
North Carolina State Health Plan trustees voted in July on a new provider tier system including Preferred, Access, Non-Preferred and Out-of-Network. Atrium launched the Affordability Protection Program on Oct. 6, 2026, saying enrolled members would have the lowest copays and overall cost-share at any Atrium facility or provider, less than any other health system in North Carolina.
Atrium said it submitted multiple proposals starting in July to match Preferred Tier discounts and that those offers were rejected, leaving nearly 100,000 plan members facing higher out-of-pocket costs to keep their doctors. Steve Smoot, president of Advocate Health’s North Carolina and Georgia Division, said the program is meant so public servants are not forced to choose between trusted care teams and affordability.
In a treasurer’s office release, Briner’s team said authority to set plan benefits rests with State Treasurer and the Board of Trustees, not health-system executives, and that a provider-created program cannot undermine the tiered provider network for 2027 or push costs beginning in 2028. Atrium replied that it is absorbing costs so members do not pay more and renewed an offer to match Preferred Tier discounts.
