Asheville, NC:
Downtown Countdown a family-friendly celebration with fireworks at
midnight.
More
New Year’s events in the North Carolina Mountains.
Blowing Rock, NC:
Appalachian Ski Mountain,
Torchlight skiing and Fireworks
A state-sponsored insurance pool that offers coverage to the riskiest patients has begun, but administrators are trying to draw more North Carolina residents who have been pushed out of the private market.
People can qualify if they don’t have employer coverage and can’t get private insurance without paying an exorbitant amount.
Since October, only about 500 residents have applied for the N.C. Health Insurance Risk Pool, with a couple hundred approved for coverage beginning Thursday.
But the program’s executive director, Michael Keough, said that enrollments have been accelerating.
“These are tough times,” Keough said. “People are out of work. People are doing what they can to survive. This is a particularly timely thing — a godsend for people who need it.”
Officials first projected that about 14,000 people would have the insurance 10 years from now and up to 4,000 people would join the first year. Keough said he thinks that up to 180,000 people in the state would be eligible.
It’s a plan intended particularly for those with high-risk health conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or hemophilia.
But the insurance is still expensive.
Premiums are set at 150 percent to 200 percent of a healthy person’s private insurance. The state subsidizes the program from a few sources, mostly a tax on health-insurance premiums and an annual cash withdrawal from the State Health Plan for public-service workers. It’s starting operations with a $5 million grant from the Health and Wellness Trust Fund.
Christopher Estes, 54, of Pfafftown will pay about $615 a month to get coverage under the state’s new plan. But that’s much better than private insurance quotes that were twice as much, rising after his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease and a major seizure that exacerbated his condition.
He said that private premiums were stressing his home budget and put him within months of draining his savings. He and his wife were closely monitoring how they buy groceries and were saving on heating bills by wearing more clothes around the house.
“It’s hard,” Estes said. “My wife just did the budget for the month. We were short about $2,500. That’s coming out of savings.”
North Carolina legislators approved the health-insurance pool in 2007. It will cover only a small portion of the estimated 1.4 million people in North Carolina who are uninsured.
When the North Carolina
State Wolfpack take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights this upcoming Monday in the
PapaJohns.com Bowl, it might not be a battle of two of the best teams in the
country, but it will be a showdown between two of the teams playing the best
football to end the regular season. After starting the season 2-6 the Wolfpack
finished off with 4 straight wins, including victories over Wake Forest, North
Carolina, and Miami. As for
Rutgers they started the season 1-5 and the season looked over, but instead this
team rallied to win 6 straight games and finish up 7-5. So for those of you
looking to do some
NCAA football betting on this game, the oddsmakers have
Rutgers 7 point favorites over North Carolina State at BetUS.com .
The Wolfpack come fresh off their 38-28 win over the Miami Hurricanes, and
the offense has really started to click at the end of the season. Overall this
team comes in averaging nearly 24 points a game and a solid 326 yards of total
offense. The main reason for all those yards is freshman quarterback Russell
Wilson, who not only was ACC Rookie of the Year but First-Team All-ACC as well.
Wilson wound up throwing for 1,769 yards but the most impressive stat was his 16
touchdown tosses to just 1 interception. Wilson has also helped out a pretty
mediocre running game, as he ran for 342 yards and 4 more touchdowns this
season. The big playmakers for Wilson are top receiver Owen Spencer and running
back Andre Brown, as long as Wilson stays on the field we like what this unit
can do not only in this bowl game, but for the next few years as well.