The State Employees Association of North Carolina and the N.C. Justice Center's Health Access Coalition today called for an independent audit of the State Health Plan's contract to administer claims.

Both groups also want the state to submit the contract to open bidding. Legislation passed in 2005 allowed the health plan to bypass the open bid laws to select a company to administer a new Preferred Provider Organization option, Dan Kane reports.

The plan then awarded the contract to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. Another law so far has been interpreted to keep many of the contract's details under wraps.

On Saturday, The News & Observer reported that Blue Cross received $97.5 million in the 2007-2008 fiscal year for administering the PPO plan and a second plan that is being phased out at the end of this year. Blue Cross processed 9.4 million claims, which means the company received more than $10 per claim.

Electronic Data Systems, the company handling claims for Medicaid, is receiving 57 cents per claim from the state.

More after the jump.

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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.