The case of the missing State Health Plan audit

In October then-State Auditor Les Merritt released the first of two promised audits of the State Health Plan.

The first performance audit focused on management and oversight of the health plan that provides insurance coverage for more than 660,000 North Carolinians. In sum, that report found that management was lacking.

But the first audit was the less interesting of the two. The second was supposed to clarify what happened to the finances. It’s still the case that no one understands why the State Health Plan suddenly needs $300 million and is threatening to hike premiums or cut benefits.

Before he left office Merritt issued a flood of audits but not the State Health Plan report. Where is that audit? Is Beth Wood still working on the financial audit? I hope so. We need some light shed on this entire pathetic episode.