27101
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Winning
Streak3
• See Opinion/P orum pages on A6&7*
• See Sports on page HI*
Volume 44, Number 9
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
THURSDAY, November 2, 2017
Obamacare is still alive
1
AC A health
insurance
discounts
remain in 2018
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE'
Open enrollment for
2018 health insurance
began on Nov. 1, just
weeks after President
Donald Trump took action
to end Affordable
Healthcare Act subsidies
that help millions of
Americans buy insurance.
Blue Cross Blue Shield
of North Carolina assured
its customers in a statement
on Oct. 18, that insurance
companies have set their
rates for 2018, so they’re
required to still give their
ACA customers discounts
based on their income.
“Last week’s executive
order from President
ticipate in the ACA market
place in the long run.“
While congressional
Republicans and Trump
administration officials talk
“The individual market m
North Carolina has
become less volatile.”
-BrianTajlili, Blue Cross, Blue Shield
Trump ending cost-sharing
reduction (CSR) payments
to insurers does not impact
2018 premiums,” said the
statement. “However, end
ing these federal reim
bursements will drive up
premium costs and make it
harder for insurers to par
about the “death spiral” of
the ACA, which they call
Obamacare, the instance
market seemed to be stabi
lizing in North Carolina.
Blue Cross NC said its
average rate increase
request for ACA plans
See ACA on AS
Photo by Todd Luck
Rasuko Railings holds a sign supporting access to healthcare at an Indivisible
Forsyth protest held last week on downtown Fourth Street.
Photos by Tevin Stinson
Members of the Griffith Elementary Bulldog Stompers perform during the Winston-Salem State University
Homecoming Parade.
WSSU Homecoming Parade
excites community
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
The streets of downtown Winston-Salem were filled
with joy and excitement last Saturday morning, Oct. 28, as
the as the soulful sounds of Winston-Salem State
WINSTON-SALEM
STATE UNIVERSITY
University’s Red Sea of Sound led the way during the
2017 Homecoming Parade.
While the parade is always one of the biggest events
during Homecoming Week on the campus of “01 State
U,” this year’s event had a little more excitement as the
HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities),
founded in 1892, celebrated its 125th anniversary.
Many Ram supporters who attended the parade were
excited to see the event return to its normal route. Instead
of starting on Fourth Street and turning right on Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive last year, the parade started at the
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter on Patterson Avenue.
While watching members of the Mo Lucas
Community Foundation make their way. toward Bowman
Gray Stadium, longtime city resident James Thompson
said the parade has become a tradition for him and his
family.
“I’ve been coming to the parade since I was a little
boy. For many people in the community, this is
Homecoming for the city, not just Winston-Salem State,”
he said. “This is a real tradition.”
COURTS
Federal court:
Special master
to redraw
GOP maps
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE_
Once again, a three-judge federal panel has dealt
Republican legislative leaders in the N.C. General
Assembly a legal, and potentially political blow by order
ing last week that a “special master” assist the court in
both evaluating, and most likely redrawing the redrawn
N.C. legislative maps submitted to the court in
September.
But now, not surprisingly, comes word that GOP lead
ers aren’t happy with the special master chosen to essen
tially correct nine of the 28 redraw districts still found to
be “legally unacceptable.” This new development signals
that Republican legislative
leaders may be willing to
throw a monkey wrench
into what would most like
ly be a fair and nonpartisan
redrawing of North
Carolina’s state House and
Senate districts, compared,
most observers agree, to
what it is now.
A process that could
remove the apparent parti
san and racial advantage
the original 2011 GOP
redistricting voting map
gave Republicans in illegally “stacking-and-packing”
African-American voters into “minority-majority” voting
districts in order to lessen their influence in surrounding
elections. The US Supreme Court ruled those districts
unconstitutional.
Some observers even suggest that the GOP might
again appeal any final decision of the federal three-judge
panel - two of which were appointed by President Barack
Obama - again, as they did in 2016 to the U.S. Supreme
Court, where Republican appointees now hold a 5-4
advantage with President Donald Trump’s addition of
Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Doing so not only delays any implementation of a
See GOP maps on AS
Earls
1
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