The State Health Plan bill squeaked through the House appropriation's committee on Wednesday.

The narrow margin 44 to 40 suggested to House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman that he may have some more work to do before he puts the bill up to a vote on the House floor next week.

"I think there's a lot of concern about state employees," said Holliman, a Lexington Democrat. "We're working to make this bill as good as we can."

The plan is facing a shortfall this year of $250 million and in addition to setting premiums and establishing coverage for state employees and their dependents, the bill would keep the plan solvent this year.

For next year, the bill would increase premiums for spouses and children of state employees by 10 percent each year. That increase grew after lawmakers added some $54 million in costs over two years to move the plan to a calendar year and voted to cover chiropractic services and physical, occupation and speech therapy at the same level as primary care.

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* Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts says North Carolina "has long been under-represented" in the Fourth Circuit because of partisan differences.

* Biofuels Center of North Carolina names W. Steven Burke as president, longtime political insider Norris Tolson as chairman of the board.

* N.C. Policy Watch's Adam Linker can't find a copy of State Health Plan head Jack Walker's doctoral thesis in ProQuest/UMI database.

* Democratic pollster Tom Jensen and Greensboro columnist Doug Clark agree that Rep. Heath Shuler's decision not to run for Senate is a good thing.

A major fix for the State Health Plan is ready for a Senate vote.

The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved legislation that would cost the general fund $250 million for the current fiscal year ending June 30, and another $609 million for the next two fiscal years, Dan Kane reports.

The legislation also reduces benefits to the roughly 667,000 state employees, teachers and retirees on the health plan by raising co-payments and deductibles.

The committee rejected an amendment offered by state Sen. Doug Berger, a Franklin County Democrat, that would open up plan contracts to the public. He offered the amendment on behalf of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, a group that has questioned the need to cut benefits for employees.

State law keeps nearly all the details of contracts the plan has with vendors secret. Berger said the secrecy prevents the public from having information to make informed decisions about the plan's operations.

"I think now more than ever there needs to be an opening of this process so there is more information," Berger said.

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A Senate committee approved legislation that would shore up the finances of the State Health Plan, despite concerns from independent pharmacists, as well as state employees, retirees and teachers on the plan.

The proposed legislation would cost the state's the general fund roughly $609 million through June 30, 2011, Dan Kane reports.

It increases premiums by 7.8 percent for each of the next two years. The state pays premiums for employees, retirees and teachers, but those members have to pay premiums for their dependents.

The legislation also reduces benefits for plan members by increasing co-payments and deductibles. It ends free eye exams and eliminates a popular plan option that was costing the state more than expected.

Several senators questioned a provision to cut pharmacy costs through a new provider network for drugs used to combat chronic problems such as high cholesterol or diabetes.

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State Health Plan Executive Administrator Jack Walker's dissertation is on file in Ann Arbor, Mich., but it's not at the University of Michigan as he thought.

The 197-page dissertation is stored at a company called ProQuest/UMI, which contracts with several hundred universities around the world to store research papers, Dan Kane reports.

Walker wrote the dissertation while enrolled at Columbia Pacific University, a for-profit correspondence school near San Francisco that the state forced closed in 2000.

State officials questioned the school's academic rigor. Walker received his Ph.D. in Administration and Management in 1992, while the school's degrees were still considered legitimate by California. The school has never been accredited by a regional or national entity, as most colleges and universities are.

On Monday, Adam Linker, a blogger with N.C. Policy Watch, called the Ph.D. a fake degree. But Walker said he worked hard on the degree and the dissertation, which is entitled "Closing the Candy Store: Replacing Individual Health Care Wants with Societal Management of These Resources."

Carol Wadke, an author school relations specialist for ProQuest/UMI, said people often confuse the company with the university. They think that UMI refers to the school, when it stands for University Microfilms Inc.

Even if the doctorate is suspect, it could be a moot point regarding the executive administrator's position. Plan spokeswoman Linda McCrudden said a Ph.D. is not a requirement for the job.

N.C. Policy Watch blogger Adam Linker is questioning the doctoral degree that Jack Walker, the State Health Plan executive administrator, received from a now-defunct private California institution.

Walker claims a Ph.D. in Administration and Management from Columbia Pacific University, near San Francisco, Dan Kane reports.

The for-profit correspondence school went out of business in 2000 after more than 20 years of operation. Walker said he received his degree in 1992.

The school was never accredited by any national or regional institution, and in 1997, a California deputy attorney general called it a diploma mill as part of a complaint to shut it down.

In a post on the Progressive Pulse group blog, Linker said the state deserves better than having someone with a "fake degree" running the health plan serving 667,000 employees, teachers and retirees.

Walker said in an interview that his degree is legitimate. Joanne Wenzel of California's consumer affairs department said the state gave approval to degrees the school issued from 1978 to 1997.

He said his dissertation on health care administration was strong enough to be published by the University of Michigan. The university could not immediately confirm that information on Monday.

Walker served as the state health plan's administrator from 1999 to 2005. He became interim administrator last year after the legislative leaders in charge of the plan fired George Stokes.

Walker makes $200,000 a year as the interim administrator, $32,000 more than his predecessor.

The State Health Plan's executive administrator was abruptly fired Tuesday after lawmakers discovered a $115 million loss in the fund that provides health care for roughly 650,000 employees' and retirees' health care.

House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, a Lexington Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat, sent a letter to state Insurance Commissioner Jim Long "requesting a change in leadership," which led to the dismissal of George Stokes. He had led the plan for roughly three years.

"We just felt that we were not informed in the way we should," said Holliman.

Holliman said lawmakers had expected a $50 million surplus in the plan, but discovered last week that there was a $65 million deficit. He said it would not affect the state budget for the current fiscal year that began on Monday, but would need to be dealt with in next year's state budget.

He said the prior administrator, Jack Walker, has been asked to lead the health plan on an interim basis.

The letter sent to Long said that "we very much appreciate Mr. Stoke's service to the state and regret that this action is necessary, but believe it to be essential."

Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for the state Insurance Department, said Long and other staff had no idea there were problems with the fund or with Stokes' management.

"It has caught us by surprise," she said.