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8 TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2005 N.C. may decree health care premium BY ASHLEY SIMMONS STAFF WRITER State employees, already struck during the last several years by lag ging pay, must prepare for the dev astating blow of increasing health care costs. Gov. Mike Easley has called for legislators to mandate the first set premium ever for state employees’ health care. Erica Baldwin, communications and public relations specialist for the State Employees Association of North Carolina, said Easley’s proposal, if it is an attempt to fill a budgetary hole, would be a burden The Institute for the Arts and Humanities at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill cordially invites you to hear Anna Deavere Smith deliver the Weil Lecture on American Citizenship “Standing in the Shadows: Wide Awakeness Counts” Monday, March 21, 2005 8:00 p.m. Hill Hall Auditorium Please join us for dinner 6:00 p.m. Carolina Crossßoads Restaurant at the Carolina Inn 211 Pittsboro Street Chapel Hill, NC Please respond to Sandy Smalley by March 4th 919-962-0249 or ssmalley@email.unc.edu MOST NURSES WILL ENTER THE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM. YOU’RE NOT MOST NURSES. 4 on over-taxed state employees. “It’s not fair to try to balance the budget on the backs of hard-work ing employees,” she said. “I remem ber when it used to be considered an honor to work for the state.” State workers will have to pay a SSO premium toward their own coverage when they now pay noth ing. Those with dependents will pay even more. This, combined with only a proposed 2 percent sal ary increase for state workers, has many N.C. citizens baffled. Sen. William Purcell, D-Anson, chairman of the Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, said lawmakers will do everything they can to assist state workers. But he also said addressing the problem is no easy task. “We’re try ing to protect state workers as best we can.” Across the nation, states and businesses are struggling to main tain reasonably priced health care for employees and their families. Adam Searing, director of the N.C. Health Access Coalition, out lined the reasons for this problem, including increases in procedural costs, higher prices for prescription drugs and high technological costs. News Searing acknowledged it as a huge national problem and said North Carolina has one of the fastest increasing rates of families that are no longer able to afford health care. “These plans need major chang es,” he said. “The legislature must find funding for health care so it can provide affordable coverage.” Budget problems have plagued state employees in North Carolina for years. Overwhelmed by little to no salary increase and overly expensive health care, many have abandoned the system. Several state agencies, includ ing the UNC system, have began considering alternatives for health care plans. Meanwhile, workers will continue combatting the war against dimin ishing benefits. Organizations like the SEANC and NCHAC say they are committed to helping in this fight. “There are plenty of options that don’t call for ffle costs to be placed on employees.” Baldwin said. “Our position is that workers should not be punished for the state’s budget problems.” Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu. THE Daily Crossword ACROSS 1 Belly or heart follower 5 Starboard side 10 Monterrey money 14 Goatee site 15 Other side 16 Stead 17 at windmills 18 Lion 20 10/23-to-11/21 births 22 Deed holders 23 Armed robbery 24 Guinness of "Star Wars" 25 Summer ermines 27 Charge 28 Work with needles 32 Nina's sister ship 33 Scots' trillings 34 NASA's ISS partner 35 Acorn producers 36 Stan's comic partner 37 Peril 38 Mineral depos it 39 Play part 40 Scoundrel 41 Zhivago's beloved 43 Calendar unit 44 Showy bird's mate 45 Spunk 47 Blue-dye plants 48 Ribbed fabric 51 Insufficiency 54 Terrier A T m|sMC|o|B|Q|LMM|o|d[e s ° aTMa rubaHabel E T T Ili A G I CT R l_C K ■■ c T W E L iM AL T ° s ■■h. u. JR _l s In e m o M I.A£il. s l£AlL E o| p|t|eloUtiolrleHe .and j_£ ■ o N E J. JL -k-E. R s j_b| A5. AM S J_M J_ ECON ski i It (mssi CAMPUS RECREATION UPDATE; AIRATS COCA-COLA. ALIATI CAROLINAII Today is the LAST day to sign up for— fHH I™’""°™“ . INNERTUBE B-BALL:: 6 players HE Sport Clubs TEAM TENNIS :: 4 players J£| SIGN UP TO PLAY TODAY “THINN OUTSIDE THE BOAT’ PS2 B-BALL TOURNEY “.individual J 1 ‘tPWIA XI [PlayStation 2 March Madness Basketball I > Tournament presented by EA SPORTS] Sign up: March 7-22 in 203 Woollen Gym ' " V Register in 203 Woollen Gym ?’s: Go to www. unc edu/sportclubs Sign up in 203 Woollen Gym JOINTHE TEAM as 1 Tf a Receptionist, Group [Positions are for the \ $S| i Exercise Instructor, SRC and new Ram's ; | Fitness Monitor, and/or Head Rec Center] : 1 Personal Trainer. a i.*co** m* no Jk Immigrants favor plan for work, study says THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN DIEGO Nearly three in four immigrants say they would enroll in a program proposed by President Bush that would allow them to legally work in the United States on the condition they even tually return to Mexico. The first-of-its-kind study, released this week by the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonparti san research group based in Washington, questioned 4,836 immigrants at seven Mexican con sulates across the country, includ ing one in Raleigh. Among all respondents, 71 per cent said they would participate in a guest-worker program. The plan was opposed by 18 percent; 4 per cent said they were legal U.S. resi dents or citizens. The rest declined to answer. Respondents were not directly asked whether they were legal immigrants, but more than half said they had no form of identifi cation issued by the U.S. govern ment. “This data suggests that a large By Eugene R. Puffenberger 56 Scrutinized 57 Delta material 58 Longest river in France 59 E-mail button 60 Links pegs 61 Passover dinner 62 Three-spot DOWN 1 Exploits 2 "Blondie" creator Young 3 Nene 4 Beseeches 5 Negligent 6 Fort Knox bar 7 Birthstones 8 " Pinafore" 9 Of an Alpine region 10 German physicist Max 11 Ireland 12 Oracle 13 What we have 19 Have debts 21 Pocketed bread? 24 Eagles' residence 25 Thread reel 26 Coronet 27 Completely 29 Contrary filly? 30 Publication 31 Already claimed 33 Swell 36 Numbers in sequence 37 Driver's license requirement 40 Backside 2 3 " 6 7 8 It 12 13 l nirfr |r 17 Tg 20 fi HMB22“ ■r IF ■■■ 26 8827 [29 30 31 • “ 188 Ilfw-T Illllr ™ ' 38 HP Brfo II ir • mttr 46 tap? hh mm 48 4 9 50 WW - - 55 n1 36 ~ ' tap H ' "1 M w'\ 11 m ? \ \ H Hty Hatty (Tar HM ' part of this population is open to the possibility of a program which requires a return to Mexico,” Roberto Suro, director of the*- Pew Hispanic Center, told report ers. “The devil is in the details, of course, in any kind of policy. But certainly, there is aq; eagerness for something, includ-* ing possibly a temporary worker*' program. Bush has proposed providing! temporary legal status to illegaT immigrants already in the country and to foreigners abroad to for three-year intervals in the* United States. The plan is supported by indus tries that rely heavily on migrant labor, such as agriculture and food processing. It is strongly opposed by key House Republicans who' say it would reward illegal immi- ' grants and encourage further ' immigration. An estimated 10 million immi-, grants live in the United illegally; the vast majority are from Mexico, with an additional million arriving every year. (o)2oosTribune Media Services, Inc. All rights reserved. 42 Shoelace ends 44 Less affluent Tpsqp 47 the Wild Things Are" 48 Attention-getting sound 49 Dust Bowl migrant 50 Old-time journalist Ernie 51 Low, wooden platform 52 Sarazen or Hackman 53 MacDonald's singing partner 55 Shad output
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 8, 2005, edition 1
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