Latest / The SEANC View / Girl Power Episode: Duke-Aetna Deal, Lantern Plan & What It Means for You

Transcript

Girl Power Episode: Duke-Aetna Deal, Lantern Plan & What It Means for You · The SEANC View

0:00
Hello and welcome back to the Scenic View podcast. My name is Samantha Klein.
0:04
I am the digital communication specialist and podcast producer here at Scenic.
0:08
And I will be our host this week because our usual host, John,
0:12
is out of office, which makes this week the ultimate girl power episode.
0:19
Joining me today as usual is our executive director, Artis Watkins,
0:22
and director of government relations, Suzanne Beasley.
0:25
Let's do it. Let's do it.
0:38
If you listened to last week's episode, then you would know that Treasurer Briner
0:42
was on and he talked with us about some health care issues that are happening.
0:46
He's talked about the Duke and Aetna transitions as well as the ongoing negotiation
0:51
with Duke and also talked with us about the retiree system.
0:57
Yeah, it was it was a good interview. Treasurer Briner shared a lot of information.
1:01
I think at the top of everybody's list last week was Duke and Aetna.
1:04
There had been this ongoing, very public negotiation battle,
1:09
for lack of a better word here.
1:11
And that has all been settled. If you have Duke providers, you will still be
1:16
able to continue to see your Duke providers.
1:19
So that got worked out. And he explained how that got worked out between Duke and Aetna.
1:25
But it sounded like with a lot of participation and guidance from the state
1:29
health plan to try to smooth that over.
1:32
Obviously, our concern as a membership association representing folks in the
1:38
plan would be that the plan doesn't overpay because the treasurer was very public
1:43
during those negotiations about the fact that if Aetna just gave Duke what they wanted,
1:49
that money would then have to come out of the pockets of state employees and
1:54
retirees the next year because premiums would have to go up again without question,
1:58
just over that one contract.
2:00
So even if you lived nowhere near a Duke provider, what was decided there was
2:05
going to dictate what came out of your pocket next year.
2:09
Yeah. And Treasurer Reiner made a good point that everybody's not going to get
2:12
what they want when they're going through these negotiations.
2:14
And he went to bat. Went to bat for us. Yeah, went to bat for the people of
2:18
the plan. And so you still have your Duke doctors.
2:22
So we don't know exactly what they agreed to because, you know,
2:26
and we never make a secret of this.
2:28
And we certainly were very open with the treasurer about it.
2:30
We don't know what we pay any providers through our third party administrator, Aetna.
2:36
We didn't know what we paid them through Blue Cross before when they were the
2:41
third party administrator.
2:43
And I don't know how you ever go to employees for premium increases unless and
2:49
until you start being. And we get to the point where we can know what we're paying them. Yeah.
2:53
And this, I mean, this is a taxpayer issue. These are tax dollars as well as employees.
2:59
Employees are taxpayers, too. And I think sometimes people forget that.
3:02
But, you know, with this transparency fight, we've been at it for a very long
3:06
time. And the state health plan and the retirement system, and we're still not
3:10
quite there yet. Well, and Suzanne makes a good point.
3:13
Sometimes the issues we're fighting for affect state employees and retirees.
3:18
Sometimes they affect every single taxpayer in the state.
3:22
And this is one of those, because if the health plan overpays,
3:25
that health plan is in part funded with taxpayer money.
3:29
So every taxpayer is therefore paying more than they should.
3:33
But it also hits taxpayers in another way.
3:36
Being that the health plan is one-tenth of the commercially insured people in
3:40
this state. If the health plan overpays, it keeps prices higher for everybody.
3:46
So it's a double whammy on taxpayers if the health plan overpays.
3:51
So, again, we really want to see the secrecy around those contracts go away.
3:58
And, again, we were very open with Treasurer Briner. He knows that's what we
4:02
want. But they're trying to insert more capitalism back into this process.
4:07
It's kind of funny that capitalism in many segments of our government just kind of went away.
4:12
And this is one of those, because if you have secret contracts,
4:16
nobody's competing for anything, really.
4:19
And so he's trying to insert competition back in there with Lantern.
4:24
If you haven't heard about Lantern, Lantern is a group the health plan would
4:29
be working with that would negotiate with providers that meet their criteria
4:35
for quality and who are willing to take care.
4:39
A reasonable fee. Right. For the services.
4:42
And so. For the volume of people. Yeah. That they would serve,
4:47
that they would care for. Yeah.
4:48
They would get access to this big group of people in the health plan who,
4:51
if they wanted to, because it would be voluntary on the part of members of the plan.
4:57
But if members chose to go with a Lantern provider, it would be free to the members.
5:04
No. zero cost no cost and then for
5:07
these providers what's in it for them they might
5:11
make less than if they're trying to gouge the plan by overcharging
5:14
but they would get volume they would know they
5:18
had a steady book of business there so the idea is competition you know make
5:24
it use capitalism the way it's supposed to be scare folks with the lantern program
5:28
too but i know i I have had people reach out to me who are concerned that the
5:33
plan was going to tell them who they had to see now.
5:35
And that is not at all the way this is going to work.
5:39
You can still go to your doctor for a procedure if that's what you would prefer
5:43
and pay the in-network cost.
5:45
But you could see a well-vetted Lantern physician and, you know,
5:49
see them for zero dollars. So, you know, win-win for the member.
5:53
Yeah, and we're going to have Thomas Friedman from the plan and Barry Weiss
5:57
from Lantern. the company itself on very soon to answer kind of more in-depth questions.
6:04
This is a new concept to people. It's going to take a while.
6:08
We'll have to talk about it a lot, I think, before people feel comfortable even
6:11
thinking about volunteering to take part in that.
6:14
But guys, it's those creative ideas and the ones that insert more competition
6:19
back in this process instead of secret contracts and a way of approaching it
6:25
that leads to more consolidation of hospitals and providers and less competition.
6:30
Something a little out of the box. So stay tuned. Be listening for more information.
6:34
But that brings us to the next negotiation. You know, these negotiations between
6:39
providers and insurance companies are constant.
6:43
And UNC Health Care and Humana are in one right now. We got a lot of calls on this this week.
6:49
So, Suzanne, I know you spoke with the health plan. Can you explain what does
6:54
this mean if UNC says we're not going to honor Humana coverage anymore?
6:59
Does this hit state employees and retirees or retirees specifically?
7:02
The good news, if you are a state health plan member and a retiree on Humana, it will not affect you.
7:10
The Humana contract with the state health plan is solid in place. You are fine.
7:15
Now, you got a letter because Humana is a huge insurance company and they have
7:21
contracts with all kinds of providers.
7:23
So instead of singling out, like, the state health plan and not sending letters
7:29
to confuse everyone, they've sent everyone who has a Humana plan a letter.
7:34
So please don't be alarmed and don't hesitate to reach out to us if you've got
7:38
a question. But there are other plans that Humana is negotiating.
7:42
It is not the state health plan Humana plan. I mean, come on.
7:46
I know. You know they can separate that out. There has to be a way instead of... If not, I'm concerned.
7:53
Yeah, upsetting thousands of people.
7:56
I mean, considering how easy it is for us to separate how we send our emails, it's that hard.
8:02
Surely Scenic's not more sophisticated than Humana.
8:05
I'm doubting that on every level. There's always some confusion,
8:08
though, at this time of year, especially with open enrollment,
8:11
because Humana, the insurance company, will send out information,
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and it's at the same time as open enrollment for the state health plan.
8:18
So always look at any information you get from Humana for the state health plan
8:23
logo to make sure that you're checking out the right information for you.
8:28
Well, this is obviously going to be nonstop, perpetually some system,
8:33
some hospital system will be in a dispute with some insurance company.
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And this is just going to always be part of life.
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So we will keep you informed if it ever does affect you.
8:46
And when it affects you, we will also jump in to put pressure because I think
8:51
Treasurer Brunner explained this
8:52
was really different with Duke and Aetna than we had ever seen before.
8:56
Yeah, we talked about how public it was for one thing, but yeah,
8:59
it was a different level of negotiation. But again, if you have a Humana plan
9:04
through the state health plan, you're a retiree, your plan is not affected.
9:09
From what I remember seeing from the limited, I don't watch the news a lot.
9:13
I don't like the news. It stresses me out.
9:15
But every time I would turn on my TV, the news would be the first thing that would come on.
9:21
And they would be talking about the Duke negotiations and the difficulty that was going on there.
9:27
And I don't think I've ever seen something like that so public.
9:32
I mean, look, when you're in a negotiation like that, one of your best things
9:35
you can do is create a ton of fear. Yeah.
9:38
People, I mean, the fear that people who have a real need for health care,
9:42
not like I might need my health care, but they know they need consistent health
9:48
care. Maybe they have a chronic condition. It's terrifying.
9:51
Think that your provider that knows your situation, been treating you,
9:54
maybe you have surgery coming up scheduled with a particular provider.
9:58
That's terrifying. And so it's easy.
10:01
The more fear there is, the more pressure there is on the company you're negotiating with. Yeah.
10:07
I don't like it. No. That's all I can say about it.
10:12
Every single time I turned on the news during that time or turned on the TV,
10:16
it would just be them saying state employees might be getting screwed over.
10:21
By having another increase to their premiums because Duke wants more money.
10:27
Well, it's already, state employees, doesn't look like we're getting a pay raise.
10:30
Yeah. You know, so everybody's kind of going in the hole. Yeah.
10:33
Now the premium's going up. The last thing they needed was. I know they've got it settled now.
10:38
So, you know, at the risk of piling on. Yeah.
10:42
After they've got it settled. It was crazy making, however, to hear a really,
10:49
really well financially stocked hospital system complain they might have to
10:55
go into their billions of investments and take a little of that to keep going
11:00
if they didn't increase the prices on $35,000 a year state employees who aren't
11:05
getting a raise and whose premiums are going up.
11:07
That that's a hard argument to make that, you know, some of our billions in
11:12
investments, we might have to let go of those if we don't increase the costs
11:16
on these rank and file people. Sorry.
11:18
I think the thing that hit me the weirdest from a perspective point,
11:23
it seemed weird to me, was that this had all become public right after they
11:28
had just taken a vote to increase premiums.
11:32
Are they trying to make our premiums go up? Well, so again, remember,
11:36
there's an overlay of what's happening at the federal level that's kind of trickling
11:40
downhill that I believe and Treasurer Reiner confirmed is part of the issue here.
11:46
So states, in terms of their Medicaid dollars, they would expect to get a certain
11:51
amount of reimbursement back for every dollar they spent.
11:55
They would get more than a dollar back from the federal government in terms
11:58
of what they spent on Medicaid.
12:00
That all changed after the big, beautiful bill.
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So now states, especially like North Carolina, who expanded Medicaid coverage,
12:08
are having to figure out, so how do we pay that?
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And there are hundreds of millions of dollars in the hole.
12:15
So Medicaid contacted providers and said, sorry, yeah, we're going to have to pay you a little less.
12:23
Well, the minute I heard that, I'm like, those providers are going to go look
12:28
for that money elsewhere.
12:30
So the most obvious place is this huge state health plan.
12:33
And sure enough, I think that's more the timing of it.
12:36
It happened right after Medicaid with the awareness from HHS that they were
12:44
sharing with the legislature that what you gave us won't bridge the gap all
12:49
the way and we're going to have to go to providers.
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I think after that, a lot of providers made up their minds. I have to get it back somewhere.
12:56
So it just happened to be like a kind of coincidence that that was the timing of it, not that.
13:01
I think so. And that's the reason I think there will be more of this.
13:06
But in other health plan news this week, unrelated to cost,
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there was a federal appellate court ruling that led to the reinstatement of
13:14
the North Carolina state health plan's exclusion of coverage for transition
13:19
related treatments sought by transgender patients.
13:21
This goes back to a, gosh, I don't know how many years old dispute over coverage
13:29
for transition treatment.
13:30
And there was a 2022 injunction against the state health plan,
13:35
and that got vacated by the appellate courts,
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meaning they said, okay, we are no longer enjoining the state health plan from
13:43
saying we're just not going to cover that kind of treatment anymore.
13:48
So that's the other big piece of news that was anytime there's a big piece of
13:52
litigation out there against the health plan.
13:54
That's something that we watch because it can mean it certainly affects,
13:58
number one, costs in the system, but also the policies and how they affect state employees.
14:03
You look confused. I am. I'm wondering if we can break this down into simpler terms so that I can.
14:09
So there was treatments for folks who needed.
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I mean, some people call it gender affirming care. I'm not always.
14:18
That's typically the term that's used is gender affirming. Yeah.
14:23
And so for certain treatments for transgender patients, the health plan under
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Treasurer Falwell said, yeah, we're just not going to cover that now.
14:34
And Treasurer Briner kept with that theory.
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We're just not going to cover it. A few years ago, a court said,
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Eh, we're going to stop you from saying you're going to quit covering it.
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And this court said, no, you can't tell them that they cannot cover it.
14:53
In other words, this court said
14:55
it's okay to exclude transition-related treatments from coverage. Okay.
15:00
So the pellet ruling is saying that... The health plan doesn't have to cover.
15:04
They don't have to cover it if they feel that it's okay.
15:08
It's affirming what the plan had decided. Gosh, it's been, I'd say it's probably
15:14
been five years. At least.
15:15
Got it. I'm less confused now. So if you have a little more history on this,
15:20
the North Carolina case stemmed from the exclusion of transition-related medical
15:25
procedures and medications from state health plan coverage that dated back this
15:29
exclusion. We won't cover it.
15:31
Dated back to the 90s with a one-year exception where it was covered in 2016.
15:38
Interesting. Yeah. So it is interesting. It was like this one-year blip of coverage,
15:42
and then there's been all this litigation since that time over the issue.
15:46
Because you can imagine something's covered and then it's not.
15:48
That usually gets people, you know, upset.
15:51
It's been, I'll tell you, I sat through health plan meetings where it was very emotional testimony.
15:57
Yeah, it is. And listening to it at the General Assembly, you know,
16:01
that we're open comment for the public.
16:04
It was some really emotional stories. There are a lot of situations out there
16:08
that are special situations in relation to that kind of health care.
16:11
And that most people don't get to hear those stories.
16:15
And when you do, it's really, it's hard to be a state health plan board member.
16:20
Honestly, it's very difficult. These are volunteers, and they are hit with massive
16:24
issues that impact people's lives in ways that, again, you wouldn't know until
16:29
you heard from someone who's living it.
16:31
And it was interesting. As we talk about some of these issues,
16:34
I question why anyone would volunteer for some of these things,
16:38
because it sounds so stressful.
16:40
It is. And so overwhelming. Because these are important decisions that have
16:44
to be made, and, you know, people who are dedicated to making them are.
16:47
I think it's just the anxiety inside of me that says that does not sound like
16:52
something fun. In fairness. Okay.
16:55
Last week, you said that a buddy comedy movie gave you anxiety.
17:00
So, yeah, you don't need to... They are both dying!
17:04
Oh, my goodness. I'm not over it yet, but that's... I digress.
17:09
Didn't give me anxiety. It gave me nightmares. That's even worse, but okay.
17:14
Keep moving. Let's see what other nightmares we make now. We also have the Retiree
17:19
System Board of Trustees coming up next Friday. Friday after.
17:23
So the 30th, I believe. Yeah. Yeah.
17:26
So this will be the Retirement System Board of Trustees meeting where they will
17:30
hear from the actuaries who will give their presentations on projections and
17:35
where they think the plan, the system needs to go next.
17:39
And, you know, there's going to be some new information coming out to consider.
17:43
You just mean updated information on, like, the investment performance or what?
17:48
Yeah, so the experience study that they do every five years,
17:51
that's going to be included in their presentation.
17:54
The projections on where they want to land with investments,
17:58
we all know how important that is in relation to the retirement system.
18:01
So they'll present all of that on October 30th.
18:05
And then when the board meets in January, that's when they'll have votes and
18:09
make decisions on what they're going to move forward with from the actuaries report.
18:14
So retirees, I've gotten a lot of phone calls since last week's podcast with Treasurer, Brian.
18:21
They're very uncertain on even if the gains in the system, the investments did amazing.
18:26
They don't feel like that money would come to them. They just didn't get the
18:30
vibe that that money was going to come to them.
18:32
They're afraid that definitely the legislature would just say we're going to
18:36
put less in for an employer contribution.
18:39
Yeah, so that, I mean, that always could happen.
18:42
We'll have the stakeholders meeting next week where they meet with all the groups
18:46
who have members in the retirement system.
18:48
And we get to talk preliminary facts that'll be coming out.
18:51
But, yeah, I mean, it's going to be a while before we see any kind of investments
18:55
in an amount that would happen.
18:57
That would pay for a COLA that would go back in the pockets of members of the
19:01
plan. But I know y'all have heard me talk before about the E-CRISP,
19:04
the employer contribution stabilization rate policy.
19:08
So that's got to be revamped. Tell everybody what E-CRISP, what you said,
19:12
what the letters mean, but what is it?
19:14
Yeah, protects the employer, the state from a certain level.
19:18
They cap out what they're going to have to put in the plan.
19:21
So that way, when you get gains back in the plan, those gains have to be used
19:25
for other reasons, you know, operational reasons within the plan.
19:30
So there may not be, even though you've got returns, it may not be an amount
19:34
sufficient enough to take care of the plan, you know, after it's met the cap
19:38
with the e-crisp and then still have enough money left over to recommend that
19:43
the General Assembly appropriate a cola.
19:44
This is where people are kind of calling bull hockey on some of that.
19:47
They feel like you can play with that so much that you can always go,
19:50
oh, man, we did really well, but we just didn't make enough to give you any.
19:56
We got a new phone word from artists right there.
19:58
Bull hockey? Yeah, you never heard that. That's a good, well,
20:01
I mean, we've talked years, you know, trying to break it down for people into
20:06
something simple because it's so easy to get in the weeds with the retirement
20:09
system and it's complicated.
20:11
But, you know, we try to break it down for folks. And I remind people that the
20:16
way the system is built is the employer, the state contribution.
20:20
Your 6%, and then whatever the return on investments is.
20:24
And that money, together, the system is built to provide its own COLA.
20:30
When those gains are not there, that leaves us going to the door of the General
20:33
Assembly, pounding on their door, asking for, you know, the money to provide
20:39
a COLA out of the General Fund. And it's a ton of money.
20:42
But again, okay, going back to just same with the health plan.
20:46
These are secret contracts we have with investment managers.
20:49
And again, all respect to Treasurer Briner. and I know he knows the investment
20:54
world, I would never know a fraction as much about the investment world as he
20:58
knows. I do know this though.
21:00
I want to know what I'm paying for something, if I'm paying for it.
21:03
Now, with retirement, employees are more directly paying for it,
21:08
not just as taxpayers, but as employees.
21:11
They're putting 6% of their money in every month into these investments,
21:16
the retirement system and its investments.
21:18
And what they get in terms of information about those investments is nothing.
21:24
If we're putting money in here at Scenic into our 401k, we can have the prospectus,
21:31
we can have the offering documents, we know exactly what we're paying in fees.
21:35
All of that legally is available to us.
21:39
I still find it morally problematic, and I would think legally problematic,
21:45
that employees who are putting in 6% every month out of their very own paycheck
21:50
in addition to their taxes that fund it.
21:52
Can't know anything about what's happening with that 6%. And it's their,
21:56
I mean, it's their money.
21:58
And Sammy's kind of looking, ERISA laws cover what you have to be told about
22:04
your investments through your employer if they're like a 401k or something.
22:08
There is not only not something like that for public pensions,
22:12
the law, the way it's been interpreted is, oh, there's a trade secret exception
22:16
to the Public Records Act that makes it okay to keep these things secret.
22:22
Most public money, you can't keep that secret. The public has a right to see
22:27
what's happening with that public money.
22:29
So, hey, Government Efficiency Committee is looking at so many things.
22:33
If anybody hears it that's on that committee, Representative Torbett,
22:38
Representative Kidwell.
22:39
Here's your subject. Yes. Here's your subject. This is absolutely something
22:43
that how can taxpayer money and directly employee money go into something and
22:51
then it just be cut from the public.
22:53
And we think this is okay. There's no transparency to that. None.
22:58
And the House Efficiency Committee, while we're there, they had their first meeting a week ago.
23:03
So, there you go. And sometimes people have said... Please add this to your
23:05
list. Well, sometimes people have said, but if we made it public,
23:10
the deals we have with some of these investment managers, they're not going
23:14
to want to do business with us.
23:15
We have a retirement system worth over $130 billion.
23:20
They're going to do business. Trust and believe. If they got to make half a
23:24
percentage point or even a whole percentage point, maybe a whole couple percentage
23:27
points less off of our $130 billion,
23:31
they're going to do it to stay in the game with that kind of money.
23:34
They're still coming out on top.
23:36
Money confuses me in general. It really does.
23:40
Well, sometimes, though, things are made to be more confusing than they are.
23:44
Yeah, than they need to be. You put it in. Yeah.
23:46
It gets invested. You should know where and how. and what you pay.
23:52
Moving on to the federal government being shut down. We haven't really talked
23:55
about that. That went into effect October 1st.
23:59
We've had two podcast episodes.
24:02
Haven't really talked about it.
24:04
Kind of had to wait and see where things are shaking out. I still think there's
24:08
some of that going on. I mean, there's definitely jobs in government that will
24:14
be tangentially affected.
24:16
There's some positions that are partially federally funded. Now,
24:20
so far, we have a situation where there's some positions being cut at the federal level.
24:27
But not all. I mean, all of them are frozen right now, but not all of them are cut.
24:32
Just some are cut. The question is, how far do these cuts go?
24:37
If you get deep, deep cuts in the federal government, some of those will have some overlay.
24:43
Interesting. But we really, we still don't know a whole lot about it.
24:46
But the longer it goes on, the more likely it is to roll down to the states.
24:50
DHHS met this week, Tuesday, actually.
24:54
The state DHHS Oversight Committee. Joint Legislative Oversight Committee.
24:58
And their first presentation was directly related to Medicaid and the possible
25:03
scenarios on how that's going to affect the state, the shutdown with the lack
25:08
of funding from the state in this last mini budget.
25:11
And then in the afternoon, they had another session where there was a lot of
25:14
Q&A between legislators and the leadership of the department.
25:20
And yeah, it just very much felt like they were just trying to get a hold of
25:23
what's happening, how they're going to handle it. I did think it was interesting.
25:27
There was quite a bit of discussion about mental health hospitals.
25:31
We've got over 300 beds that are, you know, locked down because we don't have staff to run them.
25:36
So they're just discussing, you know, the things that Medicaid would pay for.
25:41
And there was quite a bit of information that the department just indicated
25:44
they would have to, you know, circle back and provide because they just didn't have it at this time.
25:49
So, yeah, I just think there's still some waiting and seeing where things are
25:52
shaking out and what moves they're going to have to make at the state level.
25:56
And it has been, this isn't related to the federal budget,
25:59
but it's been heartening to see the legislature talk more about that interplay
26:05
between criminal justice reform or the criminal justice system itself and mental
26:11
health and mental health investment. Yeah.
26:14
Because I'm not taking anything away from what has been invested in mental health
26:19
in terms of having a system and funding for programs to help people.
26:25
But it was so neglected for so many years that,
26:30
It's going to take an enormous amount of money for that to catch up to where we need to be as a state.
26:37
And our population's grown so much. So I know the legislature's done what they
26:42
had on hand and could in that scenario.
26:46
But if we're going to solve the problem where mental health causes a certain
26:51
amount of these more troubling issues in our criminal justice system,
26:54
and especially people working in criminal justice who...
26:59
Are not given proper training to know what to do. They come up on somebody and they don't know.
27:04
Well, and we've had conversations with our members who work both in corrections
27:08
and, you know, community corrections and DHHS facilities.
27:13
And the folks that are in both of those areas, you're either in a prison or
27:17
you're in one of our, you know, hospitals here in the state.
27:21
Some of them need to be in prison.
27:23
Some of them need to be in the mental hospital that are in
27:25
prison and so you've got untrained employees
27:29
in you know our residential hospitals
27:32
here who don't know how to handle those what is
27:35
it they call it the forensic right well and you also have just like you said
27:40
community corrections out there they're dealing with people you've got law enforcement
27:43
that deals with people directly first line yeah meeting somebody yeah and they
27:49
They don't have proper training to know what to do. And that's going to say investment.
27:53
That's the state's just going to have to look to that. Yeah.
27:57
So that's where we are on that.
28:00
Interesting. And we've heard that you have a little bit of gossip from the General
28:04
Assembly about a possible micro-mini budget. Yeah.
28:09
So it wasn't actually. Micro-mini. That's what the conversation I had earlier.
28:13
Mini budgets that are micro. It actually was not a conversation with the legislature.
28:19
Or any legislators, just some colleagues,
28:23
but, you know, someone had heard that there was the possibility of a micro-mini
28:28
budget, which actually is not apparently getting a lot of traction with the, you know,
28:34
big subject matter of redrawing or drawing another congressional map next week.
28:39
What we definitely are hearing is that's going to be the focus of the legislature
28:43
when they return. When you hear micro, mini.
28:47
Yeah, what is that even? A pay raise that is enough just...
28:51
It doesn't sound like it would be part of that micro-mini effort.
28:55
Yeah. And then the conversation this morning was that, you know,
28:58
they hadn't heard anything that directly affects us in that manner that would be included in it.
29:03
But even if we see such a thing, it sounds like it's going to be doubtful with
29:07
that big map on the table for next week. So, yeah.
29:11
Which, what are the details of that congressional map redrawing?
29:16
So, from our understanding, it will be Don Davis's district.
29:19
Yeah, I think that's the only seat that's really in play.
29:22
To draw him out, which will help, obviously, in Congress preserve the Republicans' seats.
29:29
Yeah, so Speaker Hall and Senator Berger were public about wanting to help President
29:36
Trump in his efforts to have a Republican Congress to carry out his programs, his policies.
29:42
And so they mentioned California specifically. There was a little bit of a Twitter
29:46
or X spat between Senator Berger and Gavin Newsom, the governor of California
29:51
this week, over Newsom and the California legislature.
29:55
I think, well, theirs has to go on a ballot for the public to vote.
30:00
But California's response to Texas, Governor Abbott and the Texas state legislature,
30:05
who had taken some districts that had been Democratic districts and made them Republican,
30:12
California's response was, Okay, well, we're going to put this out to the public
30:15
and see if they're okay with us making some Republican seats Democratic.
30:19
And so this is something we're seeing play out across the country where states
30:24
are tit for tat and whatnot.
30:26
And now we're in the mix. Yeah, it's our turn.
30:30
Appears to be a pretty hard line drawn in the concrete at the moment over a
30:35
comprehensive state budget.
30:36
So that just appears to be less and less likely as we go along here.
30:41
I do, however, maintain a little bit of hope.
30:44
You know, when they were in session in August, they changed the adjournment
30:47
resolution to allow them to be here for four days when they come back once a
30:51
month instead of just the two days.
30:53
So I was hopeful that they've allowed themselves some extra time to hopefully
30:58
address, you know, pay raises.
31:00
So, I mean, we've had a membership, Suzanne, that's all over the map politically.
31:05
I mean, we are, if you took our membership, they divide pretty close along the
31:10
lines of how people register party-wise.
31:14
But they're collectively ticked off. Oh, yeah, they are. That there's no budget. They are, well.
31:20
So it's a weird thing. It's something that's brought people together in a very
31:24
fractured, in terms of a partisan, fractured world.
31:29
Regardless of which side you're on, you're not getting a pay raise.
31:32
Right. And that's the bottom line. That's what they call a kitchen table. That's it.
31:38
So if you're around the kitchen table trying to balance the checkbook and to
31:41
get the bills paid, look, if we're not getting a pay raise, we're not seeing
31:45
a budget, which is required to have a pay raise.
31:48
It's like all of a sudden this is personal. Yep. So people's allegiance to their parties and all of that.
31:55
I have noticed in the past year, at least among our members,
31:59
they're like, look, all this other stuff aside, we need a budget. Yeah. Yeah.
32:03
We do. We need a budget. I'm not sure how many of them care so much who's in
32:07
Don Davis' seat as they very much care.
32:10
Yeah, sitting down and paying their bills. Why are we still sitting here wondering
32:13
what's going on with them? Yeah.
32:15
You know, that doesn't help the way I picture it just being five-year-olds.
32:19
Now I'm just picturing them going to ask their parents for their allowance for
32:22
the week and be like, hey, can I get my allowance? Yeah.
32:25
Well, that's why a lot of people say, oh, yeah, we need more unions.
32:28
And, you know, scenic isn't good enough because y'all have to collectively beg.
32:33
Like, you can't collectively bargain. You can't collectively bargain for public
32:36
employees in this state anyway. It's illegal. But...
32:39
Have a collective bargaining agreement, that is. It's prohibited by law for public employees.
32:43
However, you know, it has been our belief as
32:46
an organization that working with the whoever's in control of the legislature
32:52
and making the case as to why it's really just bad public policy and not good
32:57
for all of the other things they want to accomplish if they don't pay people
33:02
enough to keep them in these jobs.
33:04
Number one, so the public has decent public servants because they need public
33:09
service is, you don't want them having the bottom of the barrel people who can't
33:13
get any other job doing those. Quality public service. Quality.
33:16
And then number two, it costs an enormous amount of money out of the state budget when there's turnover.
33:22
Yes. It's not free to advertise these jobs to try to replace somebody in them.
33:27
It's not free to train that person.
33:29
That person doesn't walk in ready to do the job with no training.
33:34
And in some positions, it's a considerable cost.
33:37
So turnover costs are very real.
33:40
The last time that I saw a look at that that was done was years ago.
33:46
And at that time, it was 500 million a year just on turnover.
33:51
That's dollar bills you're burning in a burn bin in your backyard.
33:55
It's a draining ground for somebody to come and learn how to do something.
33:59
But that's wasted taxpayer money.
34:01
You know going in, if I can't retain employees, it's going to cost a ton of taxpayer money.
34:08
So there's multiple reasons, in our opinion, that the General Assembly has to
34:14
work with organizations like us who aren't coming at it from a more traditional union stance.
34:20
But when you say having to go and ask for your allowance, at the end of the day, that's what it is.
34:26
You have to go and you have to ask the General Assembly. You have to plead your case, make your case.
34:31
But what the concern is, is what do you do when all of the facts,
34:36
like what it costs for turnover, and the facts, like you get an inferior level
34:42
of employee if you don't ever give them raises.
34:44
When those arguments don't work, people are getting mad.
34:49
So we're hoping the General Assembly will realize they need to show that they
34:53
hear those arguments, yeah, and do something about it.
34:56
Well, I've been able to come up with another new visual in my head,
34:59
but we'll scooch past that because, Artis, Tuesday, you were at the State Employees
35:04
Credit Union meeting, annual meeting, in Greensboro.
35:10
Yes. Scenic's own Amaka Flynn, who is a District 42 member of Scenic.
35:16
Long-time member. Long-time member.
35:17
Been around forever. It is such a nice lady, and she will be an asset to the
35:24
credit union. And she has been elected to their board of directors.
35:29
So congratulations to Amaka Flynn. Congratulations to the credit union for getting
35:33
Amaka. Like I said, she'll be a true asset to that board.
35:36
We were thrilled to be able to see her win her election and become a member of that board.
35:42
And we posted about this yesterday and she actually responded in a comment on
35:48
our post, if you guys wanted to hear it.
35:51
Very sweet comment. Sure. said thank you
35:53
scenic family i'm excited about this opportunity artist and
35:57
brenda it was wonderful to share this sweet moment with you
35:59
thank you for your support and she looks forward to speaking
36:02
up and advocating for state employees and their families and making and supporting
36:06
decisions that improve the economic mobility for state employees oh that's very
36:12
sweet she is a nice lady and she truly will be great yeah she will she'll be
36:15
a great advocate for regular folks which Which is good to have on the credit
36:19
union board, and the credit union seems to recognize that,
36:22
and they're embracing folks like Amaka who are ready to lead.
36:27
So it's a win-win. Thank you to Lee Brady and everybody else at the credit union and on the board.
36:33
And another fun little thing, just before we get into our Gen Z Minute,
36:38
the state fair opens today.
36:40
Yes. Artists are stoked. Favorite time of the year for artists.
36:44
It is. Are you going this year?
36:47
Sam. I will go. How many times? It could be a monsoon every day of the fair,
36:53
and I would go at some point.
36:54
And shout out, by the way, to Commissioner Troxler and the staff at Department of Agriculture.
37:00
And honestly, so many of the Department of Labor folks are so responsible as
37:04
well. They have to make sure those rides are safe.
37:07
Yeah, and what, a couple of weeks ago, they started inspecting them on trailers.
37:10
Yes, it's a huge job, and they have to do it so quickly.
37:13
So shout out to agriculture and labor folks who are going to be working around
37:18
the clock for this entire duration.
37:21
But, yeah, I mean, I'm definitely going out there. I will say there's two things
37:25
in recent years that have been very devastating to me.
37:28
Number one, I don't know if y'all remember the pig races.
37:32
Those were the best. Those went away, I don't know. Oh, no. You know,
37:37
those went away like five years ago or something.
37:39
And then if you notice, I say about everything that it went away five years ago.
37:43
It probably was 10. But now I understand another huge tradition,
37:51
the Junior League Turkey Shoot.
37:54
It's gone. Oh, wow. I heard there's a lot more food there this year, though.
37:59
Is there? That's what I heard. I heard there was a lot more food and a lot more
38:05
different, like, trying different kinds of foods that they'll have.
38:10
All I can think is what have they deep fried now? Right.
38:13
Can they deep fry an entire pickle for me? Because, you know,
38:17
you get pickle chips all the time.
38:19
Like, fried pickle chips. Oh, yeah. Deep fry an entire pickle.
38:22
That is what i want probably has that out there
38:25
a giant deep fried pickle on a stick like
38:28
a dang corn dog yep the big turkey legs are kind of tough to see they're that's
38:35
one of my dad's no my dad's favorite thing is funnel cake oh that's his favorite
38:39
thing my son's favorite thing is the turkey leg and but it looks like sort of
38:43
medieval people walking around just chomping on that yeah Yeah,
38:47
that's before there was silverware.
38:49
Right, right, right. Like you wouldn't go to a Renaissance fair and get one
38:53
as well. I'm super sad about the Junior League turkey shoot because the son
38:57
who likes turkey legs also won a turkey for the family a couple of years ago at that turkey shoot.
39:03
So it was just a tradition for a lot of families for a lot of years.
39:06
So if you don't have those two things, what are you most excited for?
39:10
A village of yesteryear slash livestock.
39:14
They're kind of even for me. I can agree with the livestock.
39:18
My family, we used to, my parents would take me out of school for a day because
39:23
my brother would compete. He showed sheep.
39:27
Oh, I watched those. He would compete at the state fair with our school.
39:32
And so my parents would take me out of school for a day and we would drive up for one day.
39:37
It's been the day we would go watch him. We would go do all our fun stuff. I have so much respect.
39:41
It's a lot of work showing those animals. I mean, we sit in the bleachers and
39:46
watch those. And that is, it's impressive.
39:50
It is commitment. Some of the students, it's their, like some of the schools,
39:54
some of the students at different schools, it's their own sheep. Yeah, absolutely.
39:58
It's their own sheep that they have bought and raised. For my school,
40:00
we had a barn at the school because there were students who didn't have farms that they lived on.
40:05
We had a barn at your school. We had a barn at our school for our FFA kids.
40:08
We had an epic golf team. And so we would, because I tried to do it one year,
40:14
but I was also on cross country and I did sports and I did not have the time commitment to do both.
40:20
So I had to drop doing that and just do sports.
40:25
Yeah. Because I was already committed to that team. I don't know how my brother
40:28
was able to do it both because.
40:30
It's impressive. The kids that do that. Yes. I love all the livestock.
40:34
But don't forget. It's almost every single day he would have to go to school
40:37
and walk the sheep. You have to basically train these sheeps from babies to
40:42
walk properly, to stand properly. You have to fix them and hold them in place.
40:48
They have these livestock better trained than my doodle.
40:55
I mean, it's impressive. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work.
41:00
These kids are like in charge.
41:01
I mean, it's great. Yeah. But I also want to shout out anybody that's got their produce.
41:08
Entered in the fair because that's also impressive. Some of these pumpkins, massive. Yeah. Yeah.
41:13
And the gourds, North Carolina, there's a lot of great gourds. Yeah.
41:17
You know, here's something I haven't ever paid much attention to,
41:20
but I have, one of my best friends is a baker.
41:23
And so she entered cakes this year. She won a blue ribbon. No way.
41:27
Or a wedding cake. Yeah, she shared that with me this morning. So I'm like, cool.
41:30
What's her name? Shout her out. Yeah, her name is Carla Marbury, Sweet Juliet's Bakery.
41:36
Everything she makes is made with love, and it's wonderful. My first question
41:40
after she sent me a picture of the blue ribbon was, what do they do with the cake now?
41:44
I've always wondered that. I mean, because I'm down for a slice.
41:49
Unfortunately, I know what happens to those animals after those compliments.
41:52
No, I don't want to talk about it. We're talking about cake. Yep.
41:55
We're not going to talk about those animals. Well, the sweet little girl sheep, they go home.
42:00
Sammy. So, yeah, there's the state fair.
42:03
There's the state fair excitement for the boy. Yeah. Sheep and cake.
42:07
Well, we asked Artis what she's most excited for this year. What are you most
42:10
excited for this year? Not going.
42:12
She doesn't like to go. I don't go. You don't want to bring the little kid up?
42:15
I grew up going to the fair. The fair is wonderful.
42:18
That was about to say. I do. I have four-year-old and two-year-old grandbabies.
42:21
So at some point, they're going to want to go, and that'll probably change.
42:24
And kiddie land's pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to miss those things.
42:27
They're not little for long, so.
42:29
What about you, Sammy? I think it's food, is my guess. I mean,
42:33
food is one of my favorite things.
42:35
I think me and my brother, we just like to try the different things that are
42:38
there, because it's things that you can't just find in the store.
42:41
So we'll also get ciders and try out the different ciders, seltzers,
42:45
and stuff that are local brewed or brewed across the state. I always like trying
42:51
the ones that are brewed in the
42:52
mountains because those are always really good. Yes, they are. So good.
42:56
So many breweries in this area.
42:57
I mean, I have to admit that there is one thing in terms of new stuff.
43:00
Some of the stuff in the Carscott building every year, like the ShamWow guy.
43:04
Nothing personal to ShamWow.
43:06
Really? I've thought about a ShamWow. Sometimes I think I could use one.
43:10
See, that's why they're there. People are like, somebody will scoop it up. Yeah.
43:13
Yeah. I like the free stuff.
43:16
I like it when they have like random free stuff in different spots. I also like the rides.
43:21
It's the one place that I can go once a year to ride the like G-Force spinny
43:29
ride that just goes so fast that you don't feel like you're moving.
43:33
Wherever John is right now, this, well, y'all can't see his expression,
43:38
but this would be his expression. Oh.
43:40
Yeah. It was, I don't even know how to describe what she just. Yeah. Yeah. Ew.
43:46
Ew. He would have made a funny face. Yeah, he would have.
43:50
So are we ready for the Gen Z minutes this week?
43:53
Lay it on us. So, something that I found this week was a new research report
43:59
that shows 7 in 10 Gen Zers believe that the government should do more to solve
44:06
problems. What does that mean?
44:08
It's mainly more talking about the fact that Gen Zs feel like we have less trust in the government.
44:15
But you want them to solve the problems. We want them to. We don't think they will.
44:20
We think they could do more to solve the problems. But that sounds like wanting more government.
44:25
I don't think it's necessarily saying that we want more government.
44:29
We want to trust our government more because it's more of a distrust of the government. Hold up.
44:35
But then the survey would have shown that they want to trust government more
44:39
and not that they want government to solve problems.
44:42
Well, the same study reported that nearly 60 percent of the generation found
44:46
it difficult to trust the government after the pandemic. Right.
44:50
Because a lot of the generation felt that they didn't do enough to protect people
44:57
during the pandemic and they didn't do enough to keep us safe in how it was handled.
45:03
You guys had it rough during the pandemic.
45:07
Yeah. Younger folks. And so it just kind of means that in the future.
45:11
Gen Zs are going to be less likely to trust elections, less likely to have confidence
45:15
in the government, and less likely to approve of political leaders.
45:19
We want them to do more to solve some of these issues, but it's not saying that
45:24
we think they are doing more.
45:26
It's more saying we think that they are not doing enough to solve some of these issues.
45:31
Well, the reason I was trying to drill down on that and understand it a little
45:33
better is I think that's not just a Gen Z thing. I think there's a lot of people
45:38
that they're driving down the highway and they're like, these roads.
45:42
The government needs to do a better job of these roads.
45:45
In many, many situations, why isn't the government doing something about this?
45:48
And yet those same people oftentimes are like, we need to cut government.
45:52
And so I find it fascinating. Yeah, you can't have one without the other.
45:56
Well, with that, kind of talking about the it's not just our generation.
46:02
It's saying more that our generation believes it the most out of the generations
46:07
because the statistics that I have found from the survey, it's by the Pew Research Center.
46:14
70% of Gen Zs say that the government should do more to solve problems,
46:19
while it is 64% millennial, 53% Gen X,
46:25
49% boomers, and 39% of the silent generation in comparison.
46:30
So they're just saying that out of the generations that are participating,
46:35
the generation that believes that the government should do more to solve the
46:39
problems the most is Gen Z. Let's go.
46:43
Probably. I mean, that would be good news for public servants.
46:46
It would be. Yeah. Future is bright. So that was my simple little thing that
46:51
I found for our Gen Z Minute this week. Thank you for sharing.
46:54
Thank you for our house Gen Z-er.
46:57
I tried. And now it's...
47:06
So our question of the week this week is, if a movie was made about you,
47:10
who would play the lead, a.k.a. you?
47:14
So I always pick Stocker Channing. You know, you guys remember her in Grease?
47:19
She was the best. Oh, she was. She was a great actress. She was like a stage
47:23
actress, like a very accomplished, trained actress.
47:26
And I also loved her in Practical Magic, too.
47:29
You know, she's just a great actress. But there's some sass about her in the
47:33
curly hair. I just feel connected to stalker Channing.
47:37
I don't know if I have an actress that I feel connected to, but I have actresses
47:41
that I've been told I looked like in the past who I'm like, okay,
47:45
that person could play me if they wanted to. I'd take it.
47:49
Anne Hathaway. Yeah. Yeah. And Margaret Qualley.
47:53
Oh, yeah, yeah. That's Andy McDowell's daughter. That's also... Yes.
47:58
Jack Antonoff's wife, who was a producer for Taylor Swift.
48:04
But we knew it had to happen for no other reason than John's not here.
48:09
No, I've gotten that quite a few times. I've gotten told that I look like Margaret
48:13
Qualley quite a few times.
48:14
What? It's the long brown curly hair with the blue eyes. I think that is the
48:19
main good problem to have.
48:21
It is. I like it. I think she's beautiful. Beautiful.
48:25
So I will take it. What about you, artist? Sammy, I don't know.
48:32
I'm not sure either. Should we have Noah jump on an answer for you?
48:36
Tell us who you think. My son's hanging out in the studio right now.
48:39
Noah, who would it be? I don't like the look on his face.
48:44
I know he's got something good in that hand. I'm thinking it,
48:48
but I don't know if I should say it.
48:50
Go ahead. You know who plays Joe on The Office? Are you even being through?
48:57
She's in a new show called Matlock. Oh, gosh. Kathy Bates? Yeah, Kathy Bates.
49:02
She's amazing. Okay, I'll take Kathy Bates in a second. I was thinking Julia
49:06
Roberts, but we'll go with Kathy Bates, son. Sure.
49:09
Good job, Noah. I was thinking Julia Roberts and I probably look alike.
49:12
But yeah, Kathy Bates is probably a better fit.
49:15
I think I have someone for you. Who? Jane Lynch.
49:19
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. She would be a good. And she's so funny. Yeah.
49:22
Yeah. That would be a good one. She's so funny. Well, we let Noah in and ruined the girl moment.
49:27
We did. That's okay. Girl power moment, but it's okay. You know,
49:29
he was allowed in the studio to. I will recede back to the shadows now.
49:35
Good to have you, Noah. All right. Well, that is our episode for this week. Woo!
49:41
Girl power! Girl power. Activate.
49:45
And we will be back with you guys next week. Have a great week, everybody.