Latest / The SEANC View / Duke–Aetna Standoff Exposes Urgent Need for Transparency

Transcript

Duke–Aetna Standoff Exposes Urgent Need for Transparency · The SEANC View

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Music.
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Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Scenic View podcast.
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I'm your host, Jonathan Owens, alongside Artis Watkins, our executive director. Hi, Artis.
0:20
Hey, John. It's just me and you. Yeah, we have a skeletal crew in here today.
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We have some important information to get to.
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After our small segment at the beginning, you will hear an interview from our
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Gen Z staff members with Latoya Satterwhite, who is a teacher assistant, District 21 in Butner.
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And it was a very engaging interview. But before that, we wanted to kind of
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top off the episode with a little talk of the news of the day.
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And it seems a big topic this week is about the Duke-Aetna squabble,
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if you will. The contract dispute that they're having.
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The haggling. Yeah. Seems like this happens about once every year, right?
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I think I remember. With somebody, with some health system and whoever,
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the third party. It happened with Blue Cross a number of times when they had
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the health plan as the third-party administrator.
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It's happening with Aetna just the same. It was Wake Med and Blue Cross last
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time that I remember. Yeah, yeah, that was a big one.
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Is it that the providers, like the hospitals, want more money?
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Or I guess in this situation, that's probably correct. Yeah, I mean,
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everyone I remember is where a hospital said, we want to be reimbursed more,
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you know, in terms of what the third-party administrator is reimbursing them
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when they see state employees and retirees who are members of the state health plan.
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And the state health plan members are part of whatever network the third-party
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administrator, in this case Aetna, in their network.
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So whatever Aetna wants to pay in their network is what these providers get
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reimbursed. And sometimes they say, no, we want more.
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So, I mean, it seems like they would have had to agree on a certain number at some point, right?
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So it seems like it should be binding for at least a certain amount of time, right?
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The problem is this is between, it's a weird thing where the scrap is actually
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between the hospital system and the third-party provider, Aetna.
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But the victims of the scrap are the state health plan members,
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and the people who are trying to fight to resolve this, the hardest,
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are the state health plan staff members, like the executive administrator Thomas
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Friedman, who was here with us just a few weeks ago talking about this.
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You know, they want to see them come to a resolution on this, but at the same time.
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Treasurer Briner came out pretty strong the other day that what's not going
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to happen is that he does not want to see us end up where we continue to overpay
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by so much it would raise rates on employees who are already going to pay more for their health care.
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So we posted this story on our Facebook and Twitter or X, if you will.
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And it was obviously lots of interest in it, a lot of comments.
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And there's probably a lot of misconceptions surrounding the whole situation.
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I mean, it is it is complicated, right? for a person who is not.
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Well, everybody thinks it's being caused by Aetna.
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And it's, like you said, this happened under, it would happen under anybody
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who was your third-party administrator.
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So y'all, this isn't Aetna. This is how it works. When you are an insurance
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company and you're dealing with hospitals, you know, basically what you need
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to do if you want to do something about this, your beef really isn't with Aetna.
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Your beef is with the law. and the only way to change the law is to push hard on the folks in charge.
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So that would be the General Assembly and tell Treasurer Briner this is what you want.
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If you want those costs not to continue going up, we need to see what they are.
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Because my question for Duke, for Duke Health is this, what percentage.
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You know, with using Medicare as a reference point, what percentage of Medicare
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are you being reimbursed?
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We know that with most private insurance companies, they get reimbursed a little
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less than 200 percent of Medicare as a reference point.
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What are you getting reimbursed? We know there's some people in the health plan
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getting reimbursed four times that.
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Are you one of those? And that's a good question for all the hospitals, right?
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Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, that's what we need the legislature to approve or to
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fight for, obviously, that we need more transparency.
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Right. I mean, everybody, that's all we hear about is transparency,
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and there's all these efficiency committees around state employees and around government.
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That's great, but this is the most inefficient thing in the world,
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and it's slamming not just state health plan members, but
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It's slamming the pocketbook of the state itself. It hits the state budget hard
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to blindly pay whatever hospital systems are demanding.
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And this is a good time to remind everyone that we are the most expensive state
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in the nation for health care, according to Forbes.
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Right. And among the worst outcomes for health care in the nation as well.
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So the General Assembly is going to be here on Monday.
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You know, they already had scheduled to be here Monday. And I know the focus
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is going to mainly be criminal, some criminal justice reform type measures that
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they have been talking about, especially since the transit murder in Charlotte.
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But I would say while they're here, it's a darn good time for them to,
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at a minimum, if they're not going to change the law.
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Right now, the law, y'all, allows these insurance companies and hospitals to
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keep secret their negotiations. Your salary, if you're a state employee, is a public record.
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Part of your personnel file is a public record. Everything about state government
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is a public record for the most part, but there are some sacred cows that are not public records.
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And what insurance companies and hospitals agree to with your health plan,
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that's not a public record.
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So if we pay them four times what anybody else is paying them for your health
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care, which ends up in you getting a premium increase, that's not a public record. We can't know it.
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So again, the question would be, since it's not public, It's not forced to be a public record.
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We would like for Duke HealthCare to go ahead and just share with the public. Yeah.
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And since they're telling, they're doing a lot of advertising around this issue
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to tell the public we're not the bad guys here. And maybe you're not. Let us know.
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If you're not getting paid any more than 200 percent of Medicare, let us know that.
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Yeah, we're getting reports from a lot of members in the Triangle area that
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they're hearing lots of radio spots about these, I guess, from the Duke side.
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Kind of blaming it. And doesn't this show some of the power that the state health
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plan has with 750,000 members?
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They should. It shows what they should have. I mean, you talk about power buying.
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They're one-tenth of the commercial market in this state.
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Yeah, we are one-tenth, right? Yeah, we are one-tenth of the commercial buying
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power and yet have no power. So you have a voice, members.
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I mean, you can really affect this whole situation by reaching out to your legislators.
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Yeah, and what you need to specifically tell your legislators is you understand
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all these contracts are secret and that it's hurting you.
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It's hurting you as a taxpayer and it's hurting you as a member of the health
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plan, but it's hurting every other taxpayer as well. And nobody should get a free lunch.
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Our interview with Thomas Friedman a few weeks back, he did mention that the Duke LifePoint,
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Hospitals are not affected by this, but these are Duke Health's hospitals.
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Like, I know there's one right near the office here, North Raleigh,
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right? That's a really good point.
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Yeah, and there are obviously the one in Durham, and there's a few others.
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I'm sure it affects hundreds of thousands of people, especially in the Triangle area.
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State Treasurer Brad Briner had an interview with WRAL.
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I guess that's kind of the impetus for this segment. we did,
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this is what we posted, but he said that the health plans board can't just give
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Duke whatever it wants and we'll be raising premiums on everybody.
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If Duke gets what they want, we're going to have to raise premiums even more.
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That's just not fair. Yeah, I mean, he's right.
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But so where do we go from here? This is never going to stop.
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I mean, if you never have to tell the public what you're being paid with public
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money, you're not going to just agree to less or agree to stay the same.
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You're going to want more and more, right?
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And it's just hard to, I mean, obviously, it's hard to plan,
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too, if you don't know what prices are going to pay. Absolutely.
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It's not okay to look at agencies trying to serve the public and say, you got to cut back.
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You're going to have to tighten your belt. And then look at hospitals and say,
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yeah, we don't need to really know what we're paying you with public money.
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A wink and a nod. That's ridiculous.
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So I'm glad Treasurer Briner came out with some, what, you know,
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seemed like pretty stern words. He's a very measured and reasonable person.
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So So that seemed pretty stern from him.
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Yeah, I kind of took it as kind of a call to action to state employees and retirees,
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you know, like kind of get them involved in this.
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Well, what we've discovered is if you even let them know what's happening, they get livid.
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It's just they weren't positive who to be angry at.
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I mean, like I said, that's understandable, but we can tell you who.
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In the scoop, this podcast will be in the scoop.
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It may be where you accessed it from. We'll also have a button for you to reach
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directly to your legislators and tell them, you know, to stand up for state
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employees in this situation.
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And so you said they're coming back to Raleigh next week, I guess on Monday or Tuesday.
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And any idea of what they're going to do? Yeah, they reconvene on Monday.
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And according to what Senator Berger said with Speaker Hall at a press conference
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last week, they're looking at a whole system of reforms to a part of the criminal justice system.
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And these were sparked by the killing of Irina Zarutska on the Charlotte light rail.
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And from what we understand, the package they're looking for would include an
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effort to restart the death penalty in the state and to prevent the governor
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and the executive branch from creating commissions that Senator Berger was sharing
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that he thought kind of encouraged policies favoring perpetrators.
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And that all goes back to a task force Governor Cooper had in 2020.
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So I think they're going to be looking at some things like that.
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And then they're going to be looking at magistrates because they.
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Senator Berger and Speaker Hall, were saying they think magistrates have too much discretion.
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And so the magistrate in Charlotte who was deciding how to pursue charges against
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this defendant who ended up murdering Ms.
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Zerutska, they believe the magistrate's discretion was part of the problem.
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Again, we talked about this case last week.
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There is, you know, there's a gap in mental health in this country.
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You know, as Sam pointed out last week, people can't get, they can't access
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mental health on the private market because it's just literally priced out if
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you have serious issues.
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The criminal justice system doesn't seem to be sure what to do.
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I know that one of the strangest things about this case is that DeCarlo Brown
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is accused of the stabbing of Ms. Ruska. He had called the police. Yeah.
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About himself. Oh, wow. According to what some of the Charlotte media said,
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while police were there, you know, he was saying, I need you,
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I need this material taken out of me.
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He thought there was material in him, apparently, that was making it.
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At any rate, the police are like, look, this is not, there's not something we can help you with.
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So while he was standing with the police, he supposedly called the police again,
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and that was that 9-11 call that he got charged for making. Yeah.
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So, So, I mean, I think that's just, yeah, it's kind of indicative that something's
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wrong there when we don't have, our officers don't have resources to them,
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apparently, to tell them what they can do.
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I mean, and I have a friend that's a policeman in Greensboro,
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and I've talked to him, and he's told me things like, you know,
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it's not that the policeman doesn't want to help the person. Right.
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They definitely want to help people like that. They just can't.
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Yeah, they have to have a resource.
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Yeah. So it looks, I was kind of Googling while you were saying that the last
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execution in North Carolina was 2006.
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There's been a de facto moratorium due to a combination of lawsuits challenging capital punishment.
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I mean, I guess since it's de facto, it's not really on hold.
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I mean, it's not legally outlawed.
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So you could still charge that person, give them the deal. Right.
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There's not been a statutory moratorium.
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Yeah. Will there be any budget talk this week? You know. Cool plate, I guess. I doubt it.
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I mean, yeah, there's so much going on. It's like issue-wise right now.
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It's like drinking from a fire hose in terms of political issues.
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But I don't think, you know, I don't see press conferences between the leaders
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happening around the budget.
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Yeah. I think state employees and retirees would feel a certain kind of way
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about that. They would feel like they're back burner.
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Well, yeah, they're feeling some kind of way. I had, you know,
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somebody on Twitter telling me, you got to get mean.
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And I'm like, well, you know, look, first of all, me getting mean with Senator
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Berger and Speaker Hall, you know, we're going to be respectful to the folks
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who are leading our General Assembly.
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They've been elected by their people in their district to be in their seat,
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and then they've been elected by their peers to be in charge of their chambers.
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We are always going to bring our issues to them.
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And I don't think we, you know, treat anybody with kid gloves around here because
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that's our job. our members join this organization so we will have the guts
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to say what they can't go and do.
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And I 100% can tell you that our members are at a loss as to why getting a budget
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that funds what they do and that gives them a raise isn't important right now.
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Yeah, I think we'll leave it at that and we'll just go to the interview with Latoya Satterwhite.
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I think it's a pretty interesting an interview we got to listen to it a little
13:52
before we recorded sounds all right enjoy.
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Music.
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Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Scenic View podcast, Gen Z Takeover Edition.
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Woo! Hello, hello, hello. We back, baby.
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Today, I have joined with me our member relations representative, Adam Weinbarger.
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Howdy. One of our insurance specialists, Tiana Alberts. Hello.
14:29
And a member guest, Latoya Satterwhite. Hello.
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So first things first, let's just have you introduce a little bit about you
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and what do you do for work?
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Well, right now I am a teacher assistant at Butnerstown Elementary,
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which is in Granville County.
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And I work with the EC department, which is exceptional children's.
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And I go from that to I was in resource before, which was basically pulling
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kids to work on, put them on grade level, working with like math and reading and writing.
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And now I've moved over to the more severe side, more kids who have more hands-on
15:05
needs that they're going to need in the school system, more of still need that
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help, but in a different way.
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I will say that I can definitely respect that kind of position because when
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I first moved to North Carolina, I was one of the students who was pulled for
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resource for math. I was not very good at math. I still am not.
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So let's just start with what drew you into working in public service and what
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was the process like for you starting in this role?
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So I started working for the school system about 20 some years ago.
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I started straight out of high school.
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And the reason I started was because of my mother. She works for the state.
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She worked at John Umstead when it was John Umstead now Central Regional.
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Seeing her working there and bringing her experiences home and then working
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a second job as after school program with special need kids at the time really
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pulled me into seeing what school was like and actually going in.
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I'm like, hey, I want to help. I want to read books. I want to try to get into
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what she was doing to be a part of it.
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And so seeing like this is what it's about working for the state giving back
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to your community she showed me like this is where I want to be this is where
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she wanted to do she was like I want to give back mental health was her thing
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and I was like okay and so I wanted to see about.
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Being in the school system to do it as well. And I realized then that that was
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my passion, is working with kids that have disabilities.
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Like, love it, been doing it 25 years, wouldn't change it for the world.
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And so working for the state just seemed to be the right thing at the time.
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Like, okay, I could work for the state, still go to school, still have a job,
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something that's going to really impact other people as well as myself.
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I'd be interested in seeing how many state employees are like multiple generational
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state workers because, I mean, my mom, she retired from App State.
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She worked for the state and, you know, I don't work for the state anymore, but I did.
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I just, I would be interested in seeing because it is like a,
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it's a heart of service that people have to have to go into state work and just
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want to. My mother worked for the state also. See?
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Yeah. She worked at John Upstead first and then my mother and then now me have working for the state.
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And then I have several family members that are
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like uncles and aunts that work for the state that love it
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been there 20 some years if it's not in
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the school system they're working at facilities different facilities
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around you know north carolina that can help that like it's a hard job they're
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hard jobs and there's benefits and there's disadvantages but in the end when
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you know that you're helping you're trying to get out you know that help is
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what really like matters yes be a part of the community uplift of your community, y'all.
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Show what you've been putting out there, really give back to,
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hey, this is what I want to do.
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I want to see it better where we live, where I'm living at. That's why I stay
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in the county that I live.
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I went to this elementary school. I went to this middle school.
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I went to this high school.
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I want to see my kids go through and say, hey, I saw you go to school here,
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and now you work here, and now you're putting back into your community and working
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for the state and, you know, showing that you care.
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And so there's a lot of advantages and disadvantages of it.
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I think community is something that is very important to Gen Zs and millennials,
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because something that me and my friends talk about is you can't help the entire
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world until you help where you live and help your own community.
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So I feel like it's very honorable and amazing to just see people giving so
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much back to their community, such as yourself.
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What are some challenges that you face in your position that are unique to public school?
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Challenges. I think moving up in the position that you're in,
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usually it's very much of a you get content, I want to say.
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It's hard to say, oh, I want to step out of my comfort zone to try a new position,
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to try to say, hey, I want to go higher or I want to go above.
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And I also think sometimes the qualifications for the jobs that they have,
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they're not looking at a whole picture.
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I think that's one of our issues. You could have somebody that gets out of college,
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been two years ago, and they just got out of college, and they're coming to apply for this job.
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But then you can have somebody over here that's been working in the same type
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of field for 10, 12 years.
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But you see a lot of giving it to the person that has the education more than
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you do the person that has that experience and knows the job.
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And I think it should be a little bit more...
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That's our disadvantage. Like, we need more of a combinedness.
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Like, yeah, we know that you haven't had the educational part,
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but you have the experience part.
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And a lot of times there's been jobs that I could work and do just the same
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thing as the other person did.
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But because I didn't have that education, I can't take that position or I can't
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say, hey, I want to apply for this position all because of these terms.
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And I understand, you know, certain things you do need education.
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You do need more of this, more of that. But sometimes I think they should just
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look more into, look at this person.
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Look how this person's been working for this amount of years doing this type of job.
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They don't have that issue. You know, they're recommended.
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They should have this as high opportunity to get that job as somebody who doesn't have an education.
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Because a lot of places they say, you know what, if you don't have the education,
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then you don't need it. There's no point in applying sometimes.
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So there's no point in even putting it out there if you don't have a four-year
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degree here or, you know, experience here.
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So I think that's one of the downfalls for education and school purposes.
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It's like, if you don't have the right education or if you don't have this,
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this, and this, no matter what experience you have, if you've been doing this
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job for 20 years and the same thing, it doesn't matter.
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I think that's one of the bad things about it. You may have got all that special
20:45
needs training, all that autism training, and you walk in the door and the kid
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flings a computer at you across the room and you're looking like,
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oh my gosh, because this wasn't something that you learned in that,
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you know. No, that textbook didn't have none about that.
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That textbook that, hey, you may have to chase him down and get this out of
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his mouth every day because he might choke on this.
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This is the stuff that you don't learn that people, I feel like,
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that are coming out of college that have all the degrees and have the education
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are like, oh, I didn't learn this in school.
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That, I mean, from my understanding, that is kind of changing right now with Stacey Meyer.
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A lot of positions across the state, they are lifting the entry-level positions
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that require a four-year degree because there's so many positions that does
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not need a four-year degree.
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And my thing is I feel like you should be able to, even if it's something that does need a degree,
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that that person is doing the job and can do the job, they at least work with
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them to say, hey, if you're the white one for the job, we'll put you in that
21:41
job, but we'll work with you to get your degree or to get you to that part.
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You know what I mean? So it's really hard to try to get in there without having stuff holding you back.
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Before, I was a sub for five years before I took the position or got the position I have now.
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But I worked in the school system before. So I worked in the school system in 2000.
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Year I graduated, I worked in the school system for three years. Left the school system.
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I wanted to go to mental health, some more things about different mental health
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jobs in institutions, group homes, different aspects of it.
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Left there, went back, come back to the school system. Still have the three years.
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But I've been doing this job for 20 now. I'm not going to get paid for my 20 years of experience.
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I'm going to get paid for the three years that I worked there and what I'm starting
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at now. So I'm getting paid for four years.
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Of work that I've already worked 20 years. They don't value, I mean,
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like, that's the only part that is the worst, is that you don't value that I
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just worked 20 years learning and going to all these jobs to get the experience
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that I needed, to get where I needed to be, for you to turn around and tell
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me, oh, we're only going to pay you for four years.
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Like, you're only worth that. That's what it feels like. You know,
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that's the downfall I feel like about the state is, oh, this is what you're worth.
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I'm not getting what some teachers have been there for 20 years.
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I'm not getting that, but I'm in there doing the same thing I would be doing
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at another job and could be getting better pay.
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One thing I will say, I feel like it's not just in the school systems.
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A lot of departments across the state tend to value bringing in new employees
23:08
more than rewarding or retaining the folks that are already there.
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Like in DAC, the last round of retention bonuses all the way up to sergeant got the first half.
23:18
So captains, lieutenants, wardens, admin staff, medical staff,
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even though if they've been there for 20 years, they didn't get this retention bonus.
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Then the second half, only CEOs got it. So sergeants were even cut out of it.
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You know, those are your folks who have been in there for years,
23:35
had the experience, at least experienced enough to promote up into a managerial
23:39
position, and they're not getting these retention bonuses.
23:42
And it's creating a lot of animosity within the departments,
23:46
just within the specific facilities even.
23:49
So I don't know what it looks like. It ain't even about really moving up.
23:53
Just pay me for what I'm worth.
23:54
You know what I mean? Like, I don't mind being at this position for 20 years.
23:59
You know, it could be a janitor, but I want you to pay me for what I've been doing.
24:02
That's the part that we need to look at. Like, I want you to pay me for what
24:05
I've done the 20 years. I don't need you to say, oh, I need you to be the manager.
24:10
I need you to be the system manager. I may not want that.
24:12
I just want to do what I do and I know I do it good. Just pay me for what you
24:16
know that I'm worth. A fair compensation
24:18
plan sounds pretty sweet based on experience and years of service.
24:24
And it's not even saying that you have to say, oh, well, it needs to be like
24:26
$20,000, you know, every year, blah, blah, blah.
24:29
But, hey, here is something, even if you can't raise the pay or here is something,
24:34
a check, a bonus or whatever you want to call it for the years that you've worked.
24:38
Like you work these years and did your job.
24:41
This is what we need to do because we want to keep you because you're doing your job.
24:45
Yeah, the work is getting done. Yes. Degree or no degree. Why not pay if the
24:48
work is getting done? Why not pay the people that are actually doing the work?
24:52
And want to do the work. And that's the thing. You got people who want to do the work.
24:56
It's just that you're not even saying, hey, can we think about this money?
24:59
Can we think about somewhere to give them some extra to help them that is coming
25:03
to work every day? that's, you know, they have their own struggles at home too.
25:06
And they're still here doing their jobs.
25:09
Yeah. I am a big advocate for mental health. Let's go into that a little bit.
25:15
With working in public service and mental health, how do you find a balance between the work life,
25:23
being able to take care of your mental health, and also being able to have a
25:26
personal life and a home life that you can somewhat keep separate?
25:31
Because I know for some people it is a little more difficult to separate home from work.
25:36
How do you personally manage having that work mental personal life balance?
25:43
Well, it gets hard because you're always thinking about work.
25:47
In my case, I'm always thinking about work because it's more like,
25:50
oh, I'm going to a store and look, there's supplies.
25:52
You know, as a teacher, that's all we want everybody is, oh,
25:55
look, we can get our kids this. Out of your own pocket. Out of my own Exactly.
25:59
It's not it's not coming from nobody else.
26:01
So we're taking the money that you just gave us and we're just spending on them,
26:04
which is hard because that's what in my brain that what happens is like I'm
26:09
going to a store and I may be focused on one thing, but it's like,
26:13
oh, look, there's new crayons.
26:15
They could use this or they can use like, oh, there's an apparatus for a hand thingy and whatever.
26:20
And you have to say, OK, you're not buying for school.
26:24
You're going out for yourself. Take your time. Like, just hang out.
26:27
Don't worry about school.
26:28
It gets hard. It's hard. Just being able to not bring home stuff you need to
26:34
do because you didn't have enough time throughout the day.
26:36
Or kids running around. You didn't have enough time to grade papers.
26:39
You didn't have enough time to laminate. You didn't have. I mean,
26:41
you don't have enough time throughout the day when you have kids coming to you
26:43
all the time where you have kids all the time.
26:45
But when I go home, it's usually, okay, I'm done.
26:48
Just completely done. I don't want to talk to people. It's basically,
26:52
I don't want to think because I've thought all day for eight to 10 hours of,
26:57
okay, let me make sure this is done.
26:58
This is taken care of. This kid is here. This is good. I'm going to go on this.
27:01
I'm making sure this is done.
27:02
Then I come home and I'm just like, nothing. I don't want to do anything.
27:05
I just want to sit and watch TV or like a relaxed night of candle and movie
27:09
and just trying to get away from everything that's going on in the world, which is hard.
27:13
No, it don't stop. It doesn't. It doesn't stuff.
27:16
I mean, it's, you know, sleep problems and then you're getting up early in the
27:20
mornings and, but I try to relax.
27:22
I mean, mental health is hard. I have anxiety, really bad, which I don't care
27:28
if we keep this on here, but anxiety really bad. And it just comes and goes.
27:33
And it's more of what's going to happen. What's going to happen five years from
27:37
now? What's going to happen next year?
27:39
Because you don't know sometimes with what job you're doing or whatever.
27:42
You never know. You may get moved.
27:44
I mean, I got moved from the position I was in last year to this year,
27:47
which was a fine move because I knew it was taking place in my brain.
27:51
I knew it, but still the anxiety, you know, you get that and mine's a little bit worse than others.
27:56
And so when I go home, it's okay, let me figure out what I can do to get rid
27:59
of that stress and not have stuff in my brain that says, hey,
28:04
you got this to do and like that to do and get on computer and do this, make sure you do this.
28:08
And I have to realize then, let's calm down, let's slow down,
28:11
let's find something else to do, Let's watch something on TV.
28:14
It's hard for, like, something that I've been trying to deal with is,
28:19
you know, everyone has those days where they're not okay.
28:21
But you have to wake up and accept, you know, it's okay to not be okay.
28:24
Yeah. You just got to get through what you got to get through because other
28:27
people are relying on you. Yeah.
28:28
And it's okay to not be okay some days. You push all your stuff aside.
28:33
Like when you work somewhere, you push it aside.
28:35
Yeah. And a lot of times I know my thing is because of the school system,
28:38
because that's where I'm at, you push it a lot aside because of kids.
28:41
Yeah. And you realize, you know, the kids have bigger issues than you got.
28:44
So you're like, let's just hide it.
28:45
When you have that kid that comes up to you and hugs you every day and you're
28:48
just like, I really don't want to be touched.
28:50
I don't want to be bothered. But you know this kid's going to run in the classroom
28:54
and they're going to give you a hug and you're going to just have to smile and
28:56
grit and be like, yes, hey, I missed you. How was your day?
28:59
Like, yeah, I'm having a great day. What about you? And then really on the inside,
29:02
you're like, I just don't want to be here.
29:05
Like, I'm not doing, I can't deal with it today. But, you know,
29:07
you grit it and you keep it going. But, you know, some days you're on the inside,
29:10
it's eating you up that you just done.
29:13
Yeah. And I'm sure that can be difficult because especially working with children and being like, OK,
29:19
they don't need to know how harmful the world can be and how much can go on
29:25
in your brain yet. They're still growing.
29:28
Don't overwhelm them with things that don't need to be on their minds yet.
29:32
Yet you're really struggling and you're like, I really don't want you touching
29:36
me right now. But you don't understand this.
29:39
So yeah, go ahead. Or in your space.
29:42
My kids love to be in my desk and in my space. And some days I can't like y'all.
29:48
Got to be, it's funny because some of my kids last year realized when I was
29:52
having a bad day, because they were older, I had K through five.
29:55
So once they get to the fifth grade, fourth grade, they kind of know.
29:57
And so I had one girl, fifth grade, and I was just sitting at my desk and she
30:02
said, so you're having one of those days.
30:05
And I looked at her and I said, she's like, so I'm going to put you in a bubble.
30:09
Nobody can go in this side of white's bubble today. She's having a day.
30:13
She doesn't seem like she wants to be bothered. It was so cute.
30:16
And I looked at her and I was like, thanks. So every time she came up to my
30:19
desk, she's like, I'm popping your bubble for a second. I got a question.
30:24
She would pop my bubble and ask me the question. And then she would put me back
30:27
in my bubble and they wouldn't bother me.
30:30
As soon as she said, I'm popping the bubble. If you got a question, you better ask her now.
30:35
So I was so like, OK, which made it better because then I didn't feel as bad. Like, oh, OK.
30:41
But it was just funny to realize that she noticed it's one of my days.
30:45
I was just sitting at my desk like, I don't want to be bothered.
30:47
And you know you're not going to, even if it's just a staff work,
30:50
you know, like somebody that you work with.
30:52
It's one of those days that you just want to be like, please don't talk to me
30:54
because I might say it wrong to you or just sound snappy when I'm not trying
30:58
to be snappy. So you just sit and try to be to yourself.
31:01
But, yeah, it's funny how kids can pick up on your mental health,
31:04
how you're feeling, you know, what you're going through.
31:07
Or even people that you work with, you know, can pick up like,
31:09
hey, something's not right. Like, should we check in?
31:12
And that's one thing, checking in on people or on people just in general,
31:15
even if you didn't know them.
31:16
And, you know, you just walk by and saw something was off. It's always nice
31:19
to say, hey, are you okay?
31:21
I don't mean to be in your business or, you know. Just check in.
31:24
Just make sure you're all right. You need something, you know.
31:26
Because I know some people are like, don't talk to me. I don't want to be bothered.
31:29
And I feel like that times too.
31:31
But they have that facial feature that just says, don't talk to me at all, ever.
31:37
That's when you just give them the thumbs up of just like, yeah, no.
31:43
What's going on? Oh, my God. Like, wait, you all right? Like,
31:45
you give them the handshake. Like, are you okay?
31:47
Like, I don't mean to be in your business. And I've done it tons of times at
31:52
work, and I'm one of the ladies.
31:53
I'm like, hey, I don't mean to be in your business, but are you okay?
31:56
Like, she's like, yeah, it's just a rough day. I said, okay, I just wanted to check.
31:59
Just let you know somebody was, you know, making sure you're all right.
32:01
And that's it. I don't care what you got going on because that's your thing,
32:04
but sometimes people just need that.
32:06
Like, let me check and say, hey, are you all right? Yeah. Like,
32:09
are you doing good today?
32:10
Oh, people don't realize the value that can have on someone's day. Just checking.
32:16
No matter how you do it, like, hey, I just want to say, are you okay?
32:19
Care about you. How you doing?
32:20
How you doing? You all right? Like, I don't even see you that much every day,
32:23
but I just want to make sure because you didn't look like you were okay.
32:25
Yeah, because sometimes that helps in itself.
32:27
Right, because then you're like, oh. You're just like, oh, okay.
32:30
So someone does notice and they care.
32:32
Right. They care enough to at least say, hey, are you okay? Yeah.
32:36
Even if you're not okay. Oh, yeah.
32:38
And that's enough to get through the day sometimes. Yeah. So now we're going
32:42
to shift a little bit to your involvement in Scenic as an organization.
32:48
Yes. Let's start with what are some benefits that Scenic offers that attracted
32:53
you to becoming a member?
32:55
One thing was, so District 21 is where I'm at.
32:59
And my mother is there too.
33:04
So she does the retirees. And so it was just great to see I had been to some
33:09
things that I had helped her out with or doing some things of decorating and stuff like that.
33:14
And I had really seen the connection and how they were with each other and how
33:20
everybody really wants to, all
33:21
on the same page, all willing to go out and this is where we want to be.
33:27
We want to set a difference and just seeing how it was, how it was ran,
33:32
how things are. I mean, there was benefits of, I knew most of the people that
33:36
was already in District 21.
33:38
I knew what it was about. I knew it was, it's like a family.
33:41
It's a connection. We're all trying to get the same goals.
33:44
There are tons of discounts, tons and tons of discounts that you just get odd and odd and odd.
33:50
I don't have a, per se, special discount that like really got me like interested in,
33:56
But I was more taken back of how togetherness everything was,
34:00
how people wanted to make a difference, how we all tried to improve on something
34:04
that needs to be improved on for years at a time that we really need to do.
34:08
Like, we all need to say, hey, this is what we want. And I saw that through
34:12
that. And I was like, OK, this is where I want to be. Like, I want this.
34:14
I want to try. I want to be involved.
34:16
I want to try new things. And I had actually received one of the scholarships
34:22
two years ago, briefly. I can't remember off the top of my head. Was it 2022?
34:26
Because if you got an email from someone asking for a picture.
34:30
Oh, yeah, that was me. That was me at email.
34:33
I've made graphics of social media and I emailed all of our scholarship recipients asking for a photo.
34:39
And I feel like I did recognize your name in there. And so at the time I was not a part, a member.
34:47
And my mother was like, you should do this. Like you're in the school system.
34:50
You're going back to school.
34:52
And I'm like, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. Like, let me get myself situated
34:56
to see if this is what I want to do.
34:59
And I had went to, like, a couple of functions that I was helping her out.
35:02
And I was like, yeah, this is something that I want to do, that I want to experience
35:07
and see the discounts and try to benefit state employees more.
35:11
Like, this is where we can give back to not just, you know, yes,
35:14
we're still fighting for more pay and more, you know, opportunities.
35:17
But this is somewhere where we can say, hey, we can cut you a little.
35:20
Well, this right here can have some discounts or some ways to help you to get
35:23
us to where you want to be or to not to be as much in your pockets,
35:27
as I would like to say, of you're paying a million dollars for insurance or,
35:32
you know, want to do this, want to go this way.
35:34
These are opportunities that, hey, like we want to benefit you for working for
35:39
the state. Let's here's a little extra.
35:41
So I think that was a help interest.
35:44
One thing you said was like the togetherness. Yes. I think one thing that me
35:49
as a member relations rep out in the field talking to state employees,
35:53
one thing that I can try to communicate better is,
35:56
When recruiting is the community of Scenic, a lot of people view it as just
36:00
another transaction, just another $14 a month. But really, at the end of the day, it's a community.
36:05
It's a movement to help state employees, not only today, but state employees
36:09
decades from now to make it as good of a job as possible.
36:14
Protect your rights, create more rights for you as an employee, more benefits.
36:19
That's what drew me as well, because I mean, I grew up in and out of Scenic.
36:22
What a state employee is. Yeah. Because, you know, just working for the state,
36:27
you just work for the state, you know.
36:28
People are like, oh, yeah, I work for the state and whatever benefits I get, whatever.
36:31
And they just keep it going on about it. But when you're actually in the scenic,
36:34
you actually get to know where this money is going, what it's doing,
36:38
where are we putting this money, where are we investing this in?
36:40
What are we doing out there to even make it better for us?
36:43
Like you actually get to see that more in depth, I feel like,
36:46
when you're a member than you are when you just work for the state.
36:49
But when you're actually a member, you see this is where we are benefiting here.
36:52
This is what we can go out into communities and try to reach out to these people
36:57
or reach out to schools or reach out to this organization or try to help out here.
37:00
You actually see that stuff actually helping people in our area.
37:05
And that was a plus. I was like, okay, I'm always willing to help and do whatever
37:09
I can, but why not be a part of something?
37:12
Like when people ask you, what do you do? I work for the state.
37:14
That's it. No, I'm a scenic member.
37:16
You know, we have all these opportunities that you could have if you work for
37:19
the state. That helps you more.
37:20
That is a benefit of working for the state and know like, okay,
37:24
well, they're trying to work on getting us more money here or they're trying
37:26
to work on this money going to kids in orphanages or whatever.
37:30
It's, you know, you actually get to know and you actually get details and you
37:32
can see where that stuff's happening, not just I'm here for the money and I'm
37:36
here for whatever I get and keep it going for the job.
37:39
And how do you think your involvement with Scenic has impacted your experience
37:44
as a whole with state employment?
37:47
Well, I think it's impacted me as in I've been telling people all the time.
37:52
I'm like, hey, have you ever heard of Scenic? You work for the state,
37:55
right? And they're like, yeah, I'm like, you should join. Let me tell you some
37:57
of the things that are going on.
37:58
And they're just like, oh, I ain't never heard. Like a lot of people have never
38:01
heard of it, like even in the school system.
38:03
And that was one of the things we've been talking about, trying to get more
38:05
people from the school system involved in Scenic.
38:09
And they just look at me like oh I don't know what that is
38:12
and I'm like let me tell you this is what it's about like this
38:15
is what we need to do you're like yeah you should join like you know it's a community
38:18
this is where you get your information from this is where you find out where the money is
38:20
going this is where you find out what the state is talking about what they want
38:23
to do like you just don't hear second third fourth hand fifth hand through a
38:27
little email that you get it says hey the state's working on trying to do a
38:31
supplement or hey the state's working on this or you just hear a little post
38:35
here and there I'm like you actually
38:36
get to know and you You actually get information on what you're in,
38:40
what you're investing in, you know, where your money is going to or where your
38:43
state is actually giving back to the community.
38:46
Like you actually find out all that information more, I think,
38:49
when you're a scenic member than you do when you just work for the state. Yeah.
38:52
Knowledge is power. And you voted for these folks down in Raleigh or not,
38:56
they're still going to be making decisions on your behalf. Right.
38:58
So a big mission of scenic is just education, being transparent.
39:02
And along with that, if you could tell some of our lawmakers or legislators
39:08
at the General Assembly anything about your position or ask them anything,
39:13
what would it be? Oh, that's hard. I think I would ask.
39:17
Why don't we appreciate our bottom people?
39:21
Not saying bottom as in something bad. Bottom as in where it starts.
39:25
Why we don't appreciate them just as much as the people that sit in the office
39:29
that are doing the paperwork.
39:32
We need to appreciate the ones that are doing the actual grunt work.
39:36
Like, why don't we see that more? Why don't we see that appreciation come out more for the state?
39:40
You know, we have the whole money goes here, money goes there.
39:44
You hear about it and you're like, okay, yes. but why are we putting more money
39:47
into our schools? Why are we putting more money into our retirement?
39:50
Why aren't we putting more money into the system to actually help benefit so
39:54
we're not in the same position five, ten years from now?
39:56
Like, why aren't we doing that? Why do we keep talking about it and not doing anything about it?
40:01
And what is holding us back from saying, hey, we want our kids to learn,
40:05
but we also need to benefit the teachers. We also need to benefit the janitors.
40:09
We also need to benefit the bus drivers. We also need to benefit the people
40:12
that gave their 30 plus years here we need to benefit those people
40:16
we need to say hey they worked for us and gave us 30
40:18
years or 30 plus years of their life we need to show that
40:22
we appreciate that the people that actually done the grunt work why
40:25
aren't we when they are done or when they're working in
40:28
that process not appreciating that yeah i feel
40:31
like the state's notorious for coming up with short-term answers
40:34
for a long-term game you know
40:37
i mean yeah not rewarding the folks that put 30 years
40:40
of their life to the state yeah it's time
40:43
for them to relax now they be rewarded they work their
40:46
hardness for those 30 years now let's say hey let's benefit
40:49
you the right way and say this is what we need to do we need to make sure they're
40:52
comfortable enough that they can live and not struggle and still go out and
40:57
have to work a job which i'm like why if we work 30 years i shouldn't have to
41:01
turn around and go out and work another job yeah and be like my mother who's
41:05
almost 70 hey i'm gonna go look for a job why.
41:09
Why are we talking about going to look for a job? Now I can see if you want
41:11
to go look and just want to be out the house or whatever. But not out of necessity.
41:15
But out of a necessity, like, yeah, you own your house, but you still have to have maintenance.
41:19
You still got to have money coming in somehow that's going to help you take
41:22
care of what you already got. You still got to pay property taxes on that stuff.
41:26
Right. You still, you know, like you use that money the 30 years that you work
41:29
to pay what, you know, the house that you want to live in.
41:31
But then you still got to have that money to fix that house or keep that house up or keep your life.
41:37
It's not like your life stops after you've done your 30 years. Yeah.
41:40
And I feel like you put that in, then you should be like, hey,
41:42
we need a little bit more out to make sure these people who have done and gave
41:47
us this time get something in the end.
41:49
And I'm not talking like it's got to be a lot, but it's got to be enough to
41:52
appreciate that they did give us 30 years.
41:54
Yeah. It did work it. I mean, they did, you know, risk their lives of whatever
41:58
job they were doing for those years. Let's give them a little extra.
42:02
Let's make sure they're taken care of so they don't have to go out and work
42:05
more jobs at 60 and 70 years old.
42:08
I don't want to retire in 30 years from the state and then still have to struggle.
42:12
Which the last COLA for the state was 2017, right?
42:16
And it was only like a one, one and a half percent. It wasn't much.
42:21
I think it was eight years ago. Yeah.
42:23
So something needs, it has to change. All they've gotten is cost of living bonuses.
42:29
Which I, that term. Which those are one-time things that are still taxed.
42:34
So they're not even getting the full amount. That term just frustrates me because
42:38
they call it a cost of living bonus to make it seem like something super special. Just a bonus.
42:44
It's not a cost of living, nothing. It's just a bonus.
42:48
And then you tax it. So most of that bonus is gone.
42:51
Yeah, it's like 40 something percent. By the time they get that money,
42:56
they may go grocery shopping one time and poof, all of that's gone.
43:01
Grocery shopping one time, they may buy one thing that they've been wanting for two years.
43:05
And they're like, okay, that's all I can buy. Well, the whole point of retirement
43:08
is life doesn't stop once you stop working.
43:11
You continue to live life and enjoy life.
43:14
That's when you get to do those relaxing things. Go on those vacations.
43:17
But my thing is, it ain't even about the vacations.
43:19
It's just to relax as your own half. Yeah, just live your life and enjoy yourself.
43:23
And not have to worry about everything else. Not have to worry about all these
43:26
bills and all this. It's like, okay, well, I have enough money coming in that
43:29
I know I can take care of that.
43:31
For 30 years. Yep. When I have to turn around and go work another job.
43:34
After 30 years of working hard, I have to turn around and go work another job.
43:39
Sunny's wacky weird question of the week. Now it is time for our wacky weird
43:45
question of the week. Okay.
43:47
So it's a fun one. If you could live in any fictional world, what would it be?
43:52
I knew you would like this one. I saw Tiana's face light up immediately.
43:56
That's a hard one. I'll go first. Okay, go ahead. It's not really a fictional
44:00
world. It's still based in reality, kind of, but it is like a fictional created universe.
44:06
It's a book. The Summer I Turned Pretty. I started watching that.
44:10
I love the coastal kind of lifestyle like that.
44:14
And if I could jump into that universe, live in a small coastal town, I'd be happy.
44:19
Apparently the new, well, there's a season that just came out, correct?
44:23
The first two episodes did, yes. Okay. Aren't they my girlfriend?
44:26
She said that they're filming another season right now in Southport.
44:30
Is what she said. Season three is the final season. There is no more seasons.
44:35
They're releasing the final season. And they did film it. In Southport?
44:39
Yes. Okay. They also filmed parts of it in Chapel Hill.
44:43
Because they needed a college. I thought it was supposed to be set up north. It is.
44:48
Oh, but it's just. It's filmed in Wilmington because they were able to find
44:52
pretty houses that look like they'd be in Massachusetts, Boston.
44:56
Yeah. Okay. That makes sense, I guess. Yeah. So I love that show,
45:01
and that's kind of the lifestyle that I like, and I would love to jump into that fictional world.
45:06
It's pretty feasible for you. You could definitely go live there.
45:09
Just move to Wilmington.
45:11
I'm about to say... Solid take. Yeah, it's not far. It's not far.
45:14
But the way they make that show seem, it's much more of the,
45:18
I need to move to, like, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, coastal kind of lifestyle
45:23
rather than Wilmington. So...
45:26
Tiana, do you have one? Star Trek. Yeah.
45:30
It's very utopian, futuristic, and let's say if you can—I'm about to get really nerdy here.
45:37
In comparison to Star Wars, Star Wars has a lot of chaos and a lot of really
45:41
dark things that go on. So you'd be like, oh, yeah, you'd be a Jedi.
45:45
I'd be like, no, no, no. There's a lot of suffering.
45:48
I'd rather have Star Trek's universe. It's more utopian.
45:51
You get all the species.
45:54
It's like a blast. You would love my friend who's visiting. Last night we were
45:57
talking about the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars.
45:59
And she was like, Star Wars sucks. Star Trek's better.
46:03
It's debatable. Interesting. Yeah, that is, okay. Now, entertainment-wise.
46:07
Well, she wasn't saying it sucks. She was just more like, it's much more intense.
46:12
And she's like, Star Trek is more like a TV show that you can just watch.
46:17
And every episode, it kind of is a new story instead of being so chaotic that
46:23
you have to follow. in such a specific order.
46:27
Like newer Star Trek movies were pretty chaotic and action-packed. I wouldn't know that.
46:32
I haven't really seen it. I just, I'm more of a Star Wars guy.
46:36
My dad's a huge Star Wars fan. I don't fault anyone for what they like to watch.
46:40
I have a Disney Plus account just so that my brother can watch all the Star Wars.
46:44
I would have, well, there's probably about two.
46:47
My first one would be, this is probably weird, But, so I'm FBI,
46:56
criminal minds kind of person.
46:58
Yes. So I would want to be in that, like, criminal minds kind of case. Be with Derek Morgan.
47:05
Actually, I like Spencer Reed.
47:08
Spencer Banner. So I would be like, that would be one of my things.
47:12
So you need the early seasons before they did the criminal minds evolution and
47:15
he went off. You need the original seasons. I got you.
47:18
Yeah, so I'm sort of into that kind of, like, crime type.
47:22
Mystery kind of thing and my other one would be a fast and furious kind of like
47:28
that thrill you know the very like on the go on the chase always in trouble.
47:36
All right, Adam. It's a toughie. So I was originally thinking Star Wars because
47:40
not even like the Jedi, whatever.
47:43
I think I just want to fly around in a spaceship, be a space pirate.
47:47
That would be sweet. And then I was thinking.
47:50
Well, if you want that, you could also be Guardians of the Galaxy.
47:53
I'm not the biggest Marvel guy. I like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
47:57
I'm more of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars.
48:00
And so I was going to say Star Wars. Then I was thinking Lord of the Rings because
48:03
the Shire just seems like a cool place to hang out. Is that or Elvin Rush? Yeah.
48:09
I don't think I could be with the elitists. Okay, fair enough.
48:14
But I think at the end of the day, Harry Potter. Because Oculus Reparo or Fly on a Broom.
48:23
Which house? So I've taken the test. I've been between Gryffindor and I also got Ravenclaw before.
48:30
I'm a Ravenclaw. Yeah, Ravenclaw's cool.
48:32
See, I don't live and breathe it or anything. I just think their world.
48:36
It's cool. It's cool. It's really cool. I know it's black magic and whatever.
48:41
Well, it's also just cool to think about, like, there is this world within this
48:45
world that muggles, people, normal people don't know about.
48:49
This clandestine universe within our universe.
48:53
Well, thank you for joining us today. It was an amazing interview,
48:57
and I'm so excited for people to hear all about your experience working in state
49:01
employment and your experience with CNIC. Thank you.
49:05
Music.
49:15
So that was a good interview. Lots of topics brought up for Ms. Satterwhite.
49:20
I was kind of struck with how much she talked about retirees,
49:23
even though she's a younger employee.
49:25
I think she gets that from she's seen the experience her mother has had with
49:31
not getting COAs and things.
49:33
And you can see that it's affecting everyone, not just the retirees.
49:37
But, I mean, the retirees specifically, it is. Well, I mean,
49:41
I don't think there's ever been a time where I've had as many state employees
49:46
come up to me and say, I can't wait to retire.
49:49
That's not great. It's not. It's not. It's not for the state and not for the organization either.
49:55
But it's, you know, the state is really going to suffer when that much experience
49:59
leaves in the next five years. What was it, 25 percent of the workforce?
50:03
It was either 20 or 25 percent. It was so many that I just kind of repressed
50:08
that fact. But, yeah, in the next five years, you know, a good chunk,
50:13
somewhere close to a quarter of the current employees will retire.
50:17
That's not good for the state. I mean, people aren't sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
50:22
We actually have less employees than we had 15 years ago, and we have a lot more population.
50:28
So people are getting less services from the state. And, as you've said in several
50:33
videos, there's been less investment proportionally as compared to years earlier, right?
50:40
What was the stat? You said something about 16% less investment. Yeah. Yeah.
50:46
It's scary, honestly. I don't think if you take these, the way we do budgets
50:53
is just annually, you know?
50:55
So, you really kind of don't notice it that, wow, we're choking things out.
51:01
And you don't notice it until you have a train wreck like DMV. Yeah, yeah.
51:07
Well, I guess we'll just leave it out there. Maybe we won't do a question this
51:09
week since it's just me and you. It'd be kind of awkward.
51:12
Yeah, they did one in the interview. Oh, that's right. Yeah,
51:15
so, yeah, we're good. We're good on a question. Have a good week, y'all. All right.
51:19
Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next week.