State workers in NC will pay more for health insurance coverage

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – North Carolina is facing a $500 million dollar problem. State officials say the state is running out of money to pay for the state health insurance plan for workers which means 750,000 state workers will soon pay more for insurance.

“The morale is definitely low. People are just trying to make it through the day, you know? It’s sad to see,” Sekia Royall UE 150 member and state employee said.

This is the first time the state has raised premiums for workers in a decade. State officials say the lowest paid state workers will go from paying $25 a month to $45 a month for insurance.

“It’s going to be less on groceries, less on daycare. We’re having to commute back and forth,” Royall said.

State Treasurer Brad Briner says higher costs of prescriptions and care are driving prices up.

“5.7% is what our costs are going up over time and the General Assembly has gone up about 3.5% a year, and the members have gone up about 0% a year,” Treasurer Briner said. “You can’t make that math work for very long. We did for almost eight years. We drew down reserves by about $1 billion to do that, and we’re out of reserves.”

Briner says GLP-1’s like Ozempic and Wegovy cost the state $100 million a year before officials ended coverage in 2024.

“We will be in a position to cover those drugs again. I don’t know whether that’s in 2026 or 2027, but we certainly will be able to because it will become affordable,” Treasurer Briner said.

Briner says half the national workforce pays more than $400 a month for healthcare coverage and he other half pays less than 400. He says the premium increase will bring the cost from very low to low.

“We are asking you to contribute a bit more of your paycheck to cover an important cost in your life and your family’s lives than we have, because we really don’t have an alternative in the medium and the longer run. We do have alternatives, and we are committed to fixing those problems in other ways. But we need your help now. And we ask for your support in doing this,” Treasurer Briner said.

Employees say they want to see coverage costs drop or wages increase.

“They’re already not giving us a raises like we should have. We are carrying this state. We have been for a long time now and so it’s a shame,” Royall said.

Briner says this is not just a problem in North Carolina. He says it’s getting more expensive to provide health coverage nationwide. Briner says the state will iron out the details of the price increases at the State health care plan meeting next month.