CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolinians frustrated by rising medical bills will get a chance to tell state leaders about it next week, when the governor’s Health Care Affordability Commission holds a public listening session.
State Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai, one of the commission’s two co-chairs, will lead the session from 3 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at Central Piedmont Community College, at 1320 Sam Ryburn Walk, where it will use Room 1123 in the North Classroom Building. Visitors can park in the college’s Deck 1 on the central campus, reached from Armory Drive.
The department is inviting patients, health care providers, community and faith leaders and other members of the public to describe their experiences with health care costs and offer ideas for lowering them. A media question period follows the session.
Gov. Josh Stein created the commission on June 30 through Executive Order No. 39. Its members include hospital leaders, doctors, insurance representatives, researchers and patient advocates, and it is charged with finding practical, high-impact ways to slow rising costs. State Treasurer Brad Briner, who chairs the State Health Plan, which covers more than 750,000 teachers, retirees and other state workers and their dependents, is the other co-chair.
The stakes are national as well as local. Health care spending in the United States averages nearly $16,500 per person a year, and individuals pay more than $1,500 out of pocket on average on top of insurance premiums, according to the governor’s office.
The commission’s work builds on other state efforts, including a medical debt relief program. The governor’s office says that program has wiped out more than $6.5 billion owed by over 2.5 million residents.
Filed under: Raleigh NC Health News
