Bob Orr wants to cut back on health insurance mandates.

On his Web site, the Republican gubernatorial candidate says North Carolina needs to reduce "excessive coverage mandates" to allow the market to work:

North Carolina has 46 coverage mandates (government dictated policy benefits) resulting in 41% higher premiums and preventing you from choosing a basic plan. We must reduce coverage mandates so that you can choose a basic plan that meets your health needs and does not include benefits that you do not need, like for example, coverage for a chiropractor.

As noted previously, North Carolina has 25 benefit mandates.

The state also requires coverage of 17 types of providers, including chiropractors, pastoral counselors and social workers; and six groups, including adopted children, handicapped dependents and newborns.

Orr later had a back-and-forth with health care advocate Adam Searing on The Progressive Pulse blog.

He recently noted on his campaign blog, More from Orr, that the discussion made him "go back and research the issue further."

Adam Searing gives two thumbs up to "Senator No."

Writing on the Progressive Pulse blog, the health care policy analyst says he saw the new documentary on former Sen. Jesse Helms last night.

For anyone interested in NC politics the documentary is fascinating and even holds a few surprises. Despite their mysterious loss at WRAL, John did manage to uncover footage from one of the national networks of a couple of Helm’s famous viewpoint video editorials that made him so famous. There are great documents from the NC Banker’s Association where Helms led for a time and where he managed to turn the association newsletter into an editorial blunderbuss against integration.

The documentary also features the N&O's Rob Christensen and rock star Bono.

It airs on UNC-TV at 9 p.m. next Tuesday.

Rep. Thomas Wright could pick up some tips from Josiah Turner Jr.

Over on The Progressive Pulse, Adam Searing dug up a good story about the last North Carolina legislator to be expelled by his colleagues.

According to an Oct. 5, 1878, article in The New York Times, Turner was running as an Independent Democrat for Congress.

At a meeting in Franklin County, one of Turner's political enemies, M.A. Bledsoe, started speaking first and would not give up the floor.

Bledsoe would not stop, but attempted to continue his speech, and every time he said anything Turner would ring a cow-bell that he had purchased and brought along for the occasion.

According to the Times, the crowd laughed and Turner got to speak.

So if Wright brings a cowbell to his ethics hearings at the state legislature, don't be surprised.

Fred Smith's Web site has a little dust on it.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate got dinged by The Progressive Pulse today for not updating his page on "Providing Affordable Healthcare" on his Web site. The top priority?

- Take Medicaid off the backs of the counties. Statewide, this common-sense reform will provide over $500 million to build schools and educate our children. We're currently the only state in the nation which forces counties to share Medicaid costs.

Adam Searing's response: "Actually, we did this already in North Carolina."

He points out that the General Assembly relieved counties of their Medicaid burden as part of the budget, and he even pointed out the Smith campaign's failure to update its Web site in September.

In Smith's defense, he probably doesn't read The Progressive Pulse.

Members of Congress have their own health care plan.

In a guest column in the N&O, health care advocate Adam Searing notes that the Federal Employees Health Benefits program is one of the best in the nation.

With the federal government subsidizing 72 to 75 percent of the plan, an older senator and spouse pay as little as $290 a month in premiums. 

In addition, senators and representatives also have access to a physician's office with 13 top doctors and the top-notch National Naval Medical Center. 

Searing says eliminating the benefits would "inject a little reality" into the debate over the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

"Members would still be able to purchase health coverage, but paying full freight might bring home for some the frighteningly high costs many North Carolina families face," he writes. 

Two-thirds of North Carolina's uninsured children already qualify for state health plans.

According to figures compiled by Action for Children N.C., a child health advocacy group, 177,000 uninsured children in the state come from families earning below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or less than $41,300 for a family of four.

That means they already should be covered by either Medicaid or Health Choice, two health care plans for low-income children paid for with state and federal dollars.

The state already promotes both programs at hospitals, schools and state agencies, but many parents fail to sign up. Others don't qualify. Children who immigrated illegally cannot receive benefits, while those who immigrated legally still must wait five years to sign up.

Adam Searing, project director for the N.C. Justice Center's Health Access Coalition, said the state can't afford to cover all those children anyway, unless Congress provides more money for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which funds Health Choice.

"All those kids could sign up, but we don't have the money available," he said.

A local political newsletter is taking heat for writing "Democrat."

The Insider, which is owned by The N&O, used "Democrat" as an adjective in a recent edition. (Instead of "Democratic.") In a post this afternoon, Adam Searing on The Progressive Pulse attacked the misuse of the word:

The clearly ungrammatical use of "Democrat" as an adjective instead of a noun has been a Republican strategy for years.

Recently, President George W. Bush apologized after national Democrats complained that he referred to the "Democrat Party."

The Insider is not alone, however. In recent months, the improper adjective has showed up in North Carolina media a few times:

An April 27 obituary in the Winston-Salem Journal noted a woman was "a member of the Democrat Party." An April 3 business column in the Asheville Citizen-Times referred to "members with Democrat Party affiliation." And a Dec. 31, 2006, editorial in the Winston-Salem Journal called for patience of those on "boards where their Democrat party is outnumbered."

And, mea culpa, Dome used the phrase when introducing a podcast on April 29.

Hey kids, gather around the computer screen!

It's time for Magic Eight Ball, the semi-regular contest for truth between state political pundits and a cheap plastic toy from Mattel.

This week's entry comes from The Progressive Pulse, a left-leaning group blog run by N.C. Policy Watch.

In a post today, Adam Searing said the state Senate is cutting N.C. Kids' Care (Section 10.48.(a) on page 105 of the budget bill), a proposed health insurance program for low-income families that's been put forward by the governor and the House:

Now rumor is that the NC Senate, as it grinds through its budget deliberations, is simply cutting even the limited affordable coverage program.

We asked the Magic Eight Ball, will the Senate cut N.C. Kids' Care?

Its response: "My sources say no." We'll check back when the Senate budget comes out to see who was right.