South Carolinians Due $13 Million in Health Insurance Refunds

Thousands of South Carolinians may soon see checks in their mailboxes because health insurance companies spent too much money on "profits and red tape" last year, according to federal data released Thursday.

The Affordable Care Act requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on "patient care and quality improvement activities." Because the companies spent too little in those areas, the "Medical Loss Ratio" rule mandates that they return some money to South Carolina customers.

The federal government reports 205,229 consumers insured in the individual and small group markets in South Carolina will benefit from about $13 million in refunds, or an average $92 per family. Residents insured through large groups will not receive refunds in this state. About 4 million residents in South Carolina are covered by some type of health insurance, according to U.S. Census data. The refunds apply to 2013 health insurance policies.

This is the third year the Medical Loss Ratio rule has been enforced, said S.C. Department of Insurance Director Ray Farmer. In 2011, insurance companies were required to refund $19.6 million to South Carolina customers. In 2012, total refunds dropped to $6.2 million. Although companies must return about $13 million to residents statewide this year, it does not mean insurers aren't complying with the rule, he said.

"It's difficult to gauge how much the 80 percent . will be for a given year," Farmer said. "Rates are set on a prospective basis, so they're never going to be right on the mark."

Customers in South Carolina will receive more back from insurance companies than both the national average and refunds expected in neighboring states.

In Georgia and Tennessee, residents will receive an average $53 refund. In North Carolina, the average is $77. Nearly 7 million people across the country will receive an average $80 refund.

Haley Appoints Campbell to $116,000 Post

Gov. Nikki Haley has appointed Mike Campbell to the S.C. Workers’ Compensation Commission.

The Greenville News reported Wednesday that Haley cited Campbell’s business experience and community involvement in the appointment.

Campbell is a business development consultant and a son of the late Gov. Carroll Campbell. Mike Campbell lost to Henry McMaster this year in his second bid for lieutenant governor.

Haley’s office said Campbell will be paid $116,000 a year for his commission work.

In 2003, Campbell was appointed to the governing board of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, where he served as vice chairman. He also served as chairman of the Law Enforcement Advisory Committee for eight years.

S.C. Tax-Free Holiday Weekend Aug. 1-3

For the 14th year, shoppers can save some big bucks when it comes to an array of items during South Carolina's "Tax Free" weekend.

The event is set for August 1-3.

According to the SC Department of Revenue, this is the third busiest shopping period of the year behind Christmas and Black Friday.

Shoppers will save the six percent tax on their purchases, which include school supplies, computers, wedding dresses, clothing and bed linens.

The tax free weekend starts at 12:01 Friday morning and will end at midnight on Sunday.

For a detailed list on what items will be tax free, go to the South Carolina Department of Revenue's tax-free list page. 

South Carolina Gets "F" Grade in Supporting Working Parents

A new report by the National Partnership for Women & Families called "Expecting Better," has ranked South Carolina among the worst in the country for supporting working moms and dads during pregnancy and after birth.

Their study focuses on laws (or lack of laws) that aim to protect working parents, like family-friendly policies for paid sick or family leave days, paid medical leave, all intended to prevent financial hardships many face when raising a family.

Especially of concern is the impact on low-wage or hourly employees, who are at the highest risk of financial crisis when it comes to bringing a new child into the world. Those who have low pay, often without unpaid maternity leave, are also saddled with the challenge of insurance coverage, as many employers do not provide healthcare coverage.

The report cites the following example:

Employers' failure to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers gained national attention after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled against a former United Parcel Service (UPS) employee named Peggy Young. She needed to avoid lifting more than 20 pounds during part of her pregnancy, so she requested a light duty assignment as an accommodation. UPS denied her request, even though it had a policy of granting light duty to other workers who were temporarily unable to perform their jobs — employees injured on the job and individuals with a qualifying disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The court held that UPS did not discriminate against Young in violation of the PDA, because its policy was based on "pregnancy-blind" factors. This decision, and numerous other complaints from pregnant women across the country, has given rise to new momentum to pass pregnancy accommodation laws federally and at the state and local levels.

At least 181 countries worldwide guarantee paid leave to women for childbirth, along with 81 countries having guarantees of paid paternity leave for the fathers. "The United States can and do much better," according to the executive summary in the report.

For the state of South Carolina, the group took a look at statistics of state policies affecting new parents in the workforce, a guarantee of pregnancy accommodations for expectant mothers, job protection under a state-level family leave act, and paid family and medical leave.

South Carolina received an F.

Librarians Say They'll Override Haley Trespass Veto

South Carolina’s public library directors, confident they have the necessary votes in the state legislature locked up, plan to press ahead with efforts to see a library trespass bill adopted into law, even after a recent veto by Gov. Nikki Haley scuttled their hopes, at least temporarily.

The bill, which permits a misdemeanor trespassing charge against any library patron returning to the premises before a written warning to stay away expires, probably won’t be considered again until early 2015, but library officials, encouraged by how close they came to success this summer, told Library Journal they are eager to take up the cause again.

“That is planned. We feel this is a very important piece of legislation for public libraries in South Carolina,” Carl Coffin, president of the South Carolina Association of Public Library Administrators(SCAPLA), told LJ. “As far as the House and Senate are concerned, we have a broad range of support.”

Meeting last week in Columbia, SC, SCAPLA members agreed to continue lobbying for the trespass bill as a top legislative priority in 2015.

Full Story Here

Anderson Water Should Improve as System Flushing Continues

Three years ago, Anderson County South Carolina won an award for having the best drinking water in the state.

It only took two years of record weather conditions to wash memories of those tall glasses of fresh, sweet-tasting water right out of our clean glasses. 

The drought of 2012 left Hartwell Lake at record low levels. Sites where docks once floated were suddenly lush, green vegetation-covered mud. Those who owned lake property essentially watched their lawns shrivel as their lake front bloomed with plant life.  

By the time the rainfall came, and it came in a nine-month torrent from Nov. 2012-July 2013 that more than made up for the year of drought, the lake filled far behind full stages, even reaching levels above even that which had been seen when the lake was originally filled in the 1960s. 

“What resulted is the result of a confluence of odd events,” said Scott Willett, executive director of the Anderson Regional Joint Water System. “After the drought, the lake was down 10-12 feet, almost all the backchannels were dry, and where they were dry grass, other other organic material were allowed to grow.” 

Added to this, throughout the winter, very little, if any lake management - other than emergency letting of water from the overfull lakes - was needed. All the lakes up and down stream were full, so they stayed full, setting the stage of trouble. 

When Spring 2014 rolled around, the dogwoods were not the only thing that bloomed. In coves all around Hartwell Lake, aquarium-like growths began to flourish in three feet of water, which was just enough to allow sunlight to reach the bottom. Nourished by runoff of fertilizer, grass clippings and other organic manner which had piled up and ended up in the lake during the early rained-out attempts to plant lawns and gardens.  

The growth of this organic material produced the unpleasant odor and taste in Anderson County first reported back in early May. The water contained exceptionally high levels of Geosmin and Methyl-Isoborneol (MIB), both naturally occurring compounds which are to blame for the water problems Anderson County has experienced for the past few months. These materials, the result of what is categorized as blue-green algae, seep into the water since they are not caught by filters, much like the flavor or coffee or tea seeps into water even though the tea leaves and/or grounds do not. But tests show they do not contain bacteria or other harmful substances. 

Willett said the joint water system continues to do hourly testing of the water daily, and that there are no safety concerns from the current water in the system. 

“Our water is safe, meeting all primary drinking water standards.” Willett said. “But we understand that taste, odor, color are the things we expect as a community, and we are going to fix that. We like having the best drinking water in South Carolina, providing high quality at low costs. That is our goal.  We all live and work here in Anderson and we all want good water.” 

The carbon filtration system, which was implemented the day of the intake pipe failure in late June, is already showing signs of progress. Willett said all the water at Anderson’ treatment facility is void of the unpleasant taste and odor. It is continuing to deliver this water throughout the system, while providing adequate filtration, will be the longest stage in the return of drinking water void of the earthy taste and smells.

Willett said the amount of material in the water should have now peaked and is now showing a rapid decline the the system’s drinking water. In May, the presence of geosim and MIB was staggering, coming in at 2,100 parts per trillion. Most consumers can begin to smell the material in the water at 10 parts per trillion. So reducing the amount by such a large amount is taking time. He said progress is being made by treating one area at a time, but added there is no way to give and exact time when the entire system will be 100 percent below the detectable levels. 

“I hope we are going to be a lot more effect as the water from the plant propagates through the systems,” Willett said. “Systems are flushing regularly in a lot of areas and having only good water going into the system will eventually fix it.”

Willett said the rural systems should find it easier to flush systems, including holding tanks along the way, because they are largely linear systems with houses and businesses tapped on a line. The city system is networked, and due to lack of early planning and long-range patchwork of pipe systems by Duke Energy when the owned the system, and thus will take longer to flush and replace the current lines filled with the earthy water.

This raises another issue about the future of water quality in Anderson: aging infrastructure. Replacing the water infrastructure will require not only a long-range plan, but a lot of money that so far no one has been willing to allocate.

Anderson is an exceptionally large system to be served by a single water treatment plant, Willett said. When it was built 50-plus years ago, it was serving far fewer homes and businesses, and many residents still had their own wells. He said current plans involve the creation of two virtual water plants from a single plant with the goal of avoid future problems which have recently plagued the current system. This would mean a single intake failure would no longer be able to take the entire system down, since backup values are being installed to prevent the repeats of such an event. 

In the meantime, if you continue to have taste and odor issues with your water, first ask your neighbors if they are having similar issues. If not, then run a shower to flush the line to your house and see if that helps the problem. If your neighbor(s) are also having water issues, contact your water system to let them know organic materials are still a problem in your area and that the lines need to be flushed. 

It will take time for the water system to recover from what at least to this point has been a once in a generation problem. Until then, monitor the water at your house or business and keep the lines of communication open with your local water provider is the best tool for follow up. 

"No one likes what we have had to go through here," Willett said. "But we're working to make progress."

The Anderson Regional Joint Water System includes:

Belton-Honea Path Water Authority

Big Creek Water & Sewerage District

Broadway Water & Sewerage District

City of Anderson

City of Clemson

Clemson University

Hammond Water District

Homeland Park Water District

Powdersville Water District

Sandy Springs Water District

Starr-Iva Water and Sewer District

Town of Central

Town of Pendleton

Town of Williamston

West Anderson Water District

Ervin Hires Schwarzenegger Spokesman for Campaign

Tom Ervin, a petition candidate for governor who calls himself an independent Republican, added a senior adviser who worked for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a spokesman who worked for the S.C. Republican Party.

Senior adviser Matt David is a partner at Outland Creative Works in Los Angeles. He was Gov. Schwarzenegger's deputy chief of staff and communications director. He also worked in the last two GOP presidential primaries -- deputy communications director for Sen. John McCain in 2008 and campaign manager for Gov. Jon Huntsman in 2012.

Campaign spokesman Christian Hertenstein was a communications director for the S.C. Republican Party before working for Old Florida National Bank.

Ervin, a Greenville attorney and radio-station owner who was a state lawmaker and judge, has loaned his campaign more than $1 million in his bid to unseat Republican incumbent Nikki Haley of Lexington.

He also faces Democrat Vincent Sheheen, Libertarian Steve French and United Citizens candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves.

South Carolina Kids Among Nation's Poorest

South Carolina ranked 45th in the nation in child well-being for the second year in a row as many Palmetto State children continue to face high poverty rates and to struggle in reading and math.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation released its annual Kids Count report Tuesday, ranking each state’s child well-being in four areas: economic well-being, education, health and family, and community. The report draws on the most recent national, state and local child welfare statistics available.

Arizona, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico and Mississippi trailed South Carolina, ranking 46th through 50th, respectively. Again, the country’s southern-most states, from coast to coast, were ranked the lowest in the nation.

Massachusetts, Vermont, Iowa, New Hampshire and Minnesota ranked first through fifth, respectively, as best for overall child well-being.

“Most alarming are the education and poverty measures,” Children’s Trust chief executive officer Sue Williams said of the South Carolina findings. “With education, families can lift themselves out of poverty and greatly reduce the stressors that can lead to child abuse and neglect.”

In South Carolina, 72 percent of fourth-graders scored below proficient on a national reading test – a slight improvement from 74 percent in 2005. Sixty-nine percent of South Carolina eighth-graders were not proficient in math, slightly better than 70 percent in 2005.

Fifty-seven percent of 3- and 4-year-olds in the state did not attend preschool, up from 55 percent in last year’s Kids Count report.

The report comes as South Carolina educators get ready to comply with a new state law called Read to Succeed, meant to bring a new focus on reading in public schools.

Starting in the 2017-18 school year, third-graders who perform poorly on state literacy tests will repeat that grade so they can receive intensive reading instruction. The new law also paves the way for the expansion of the state’s free 4-year-old kindergarten program.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2014/07/21/6160420/study-sc-still-ranked-45th-for.html?sp=/100/104/#storylink=cpy

State Begins first Repair with New Act 98 SCDOT Funds

The first bridge in South Carolina built using a new source of money is open to traffic, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday. The bridge is on Jumping Branch Road near Blacksburg.

It’s the first bridge completed under Act 98, which state lawmakers passed last year as a new source of money for state roads and bridges. It uses some of the money from the sales tax on vehicles, which used to go to the General Fund, and some one-time new money in the budget last year. That money was then used to borrow about $1 billion over 10 years.

"It will take awhile to design and deliver all of the projects, but we hope to have between now and the end of this year perhaps 10 more bridges in the Upstate region, but over the next several years we'll deliver almost 80 bridges across the state," says Janet Oakley, secretary of transportation for the SC DOT.

That money will also be used to widen I-85 from four lanes to six, although you won’t see construction begin for a couple of years.

While the new funding will provide about $1 billion over 10 years, the SCDOT says it needs about $1.4 billion every year for 20 years to bring state roads up to “good” condition.

S.C. National Parks Generate $80 Million in 2013

A new report finds that visitors to national parks in South Carolina spent almost $80 million and the parks supported 1,100 jobs last year.

The report by economists with the U.S. Geological Survey found that more than 1.5 million visitors went to National Park Service sites in the state during 2013.

The national park sites in South Carolina include the Congaree National Park south of Columbia and the Fort Sumter and Charles Pinckney national historic sites in the Charleston area.

In the Upstate, sites include the Cowpens National Battlefield, Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, Kings Mountain National Military Park, and Ninety Six National Historic Site.

WYFF: Duke Says Keowee Oil Spill Poses No Threat

A Duke Energy officials said an oil spill in the Keowee River does not pose a threat to the public.

BJ Gatten, spokeswoman for Duke Energy, said the spill happened at Duke's Keowee hydro plant Sunday evening.  When workers noticed the spill, it was stopped and contained by a yellow boom across the water.

The spill happened in the Tail Race area of the Keowee River and can be seen from the bridge over Highway 183 near the Pickens County line.

Gatten said about five gallons of oil spilled from what she described as an apparent equipment failure.

"Keowee hydro is a separate plant.  It’s located here on the property with Oconee nuclear station, but they are two completely separate plants.  Keowee’s job is to produce electricity from water," Gatten said.  "Today, plant personnel are working to understand what happened and to make sure that it doesn’t happen again."

Study: Rising Seas Could Threaten Carolina Coasts

A new analysis of sea level rise concludes that billions of dollars in property and infrastructure is at risk in extreme floods expected along the coast of the Carolinas in coming years.

Climate Central of Princeton, N.J., a nonprofit group of scientists and journalists that surveys and conducts climate change studies, released an analysis of the threat faced in South Carolina on Monday, while its report for North Carolina was released last week. An analysis for Georgia is due next week.

The information is available on an interactive map on the organization’s website, http://bit.ly/1rjkMsv, where visitors can enter their ZIP code and see various flooding scenarios.

The analysis found that the South Carolina coast is likely to see extreme floods of more than 4 feet above high tide within 40 years in a danger zone that includes 54,000 homes and $24 billion in property. North Carolina has $9 billion in property and 61,000 homes less than 4 feet above the high tide line, most of it in the Wilmington area.

Ben Strauss, the lead author of the reports, said the organization two years ago used maps from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to analyze population and housing threatened by flooding in all coastal states.

Full Story Here

Christians Flee Iraq Ahead of ISIS Threats

Thousands of Christians are fleeing northern Iraq and communities they have lived in for almost 2,000 years following militant group ISIS' ultimatum last week that they convert to Islam, pay a tax, or be killed for their faith.

"In my opinion this is a very grave situation. No Western leader is moving to stop such a tragedy but they offer only empty words with no actions," Dr. Munir S. Kakish, Chairman Council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land, told The Christian Post in an email on Sunday. "ISIS must be stopped before it wipes out Christians from other areas."

The Independent noted that ISIS, which has taken control of the city of Mosul and much of the surrounding region, gave Christians until midday on Saturday to comply. The militants have declared the establishment of an "Islamic state" on the territory of Iraq and Syria, where they have also been active.

"We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract - involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword," an ISIS statement was read out at Mosul's mosques, BBC News reported.

A number of Christian leaders and persecution watchdog groups have made rallying calls for the international community to do all it can to help protect Iraq's Christians. Many are reportedly fleeing to the autonomous region of Kurdistan, which for the most part has managed to secure its borders and escape the militants' attacks.

"Christian families are on their way to Dohuk and Irbil," Patriarch Louis Sako told AFP news agency.

"For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians," he said.

The patriarch added that Islamists have been seen branding Christian houses with the letter "N" for "Nassarah," a term used for Christians in the Quran.

Sako estimated that as many as 60,000 Christians lived in Mosul prior to 2003 and the U.S.-led operations against dictator Saddam Hussein. By June 2014, that number had fallen to 35,000, while another 10,000 fled following ISIS' initial attacks.Churches in Mosul have also been attack and ransacked, Chaldean Archbishop Nona told Human Rights Watch.

"Each car carried three gunmen, most of them with masks. They broke open the doors and took some small statues from inside the property and broke them outside. They took control of the premises and placed their black banners on the roof and entrance," Nona said of an attack on his archdiocese compound.

"They told neighbors, 'this is our property, don't touch it'."

Iraq could soon split into three separate regions as a response to the ISIS attacks, a Kurdish government official recently predicted.