As if the South Carolina governmental energy provider had failed spectacularly Santee Cooper hadn’t stolen Palmetto’s state enough in the past few years through the NukeGate disaster, its leaders are, once again, taxpayers and low-income taxpayers.
Santee Cooper received notification earlier this month that its board members – who have recently been criticized for their lack of diversity – may have received inadequate taxpayer-funded health coverage.
In reality, This is precisely the conclusion reached by the body responsible for administering these benefits.
According to a notice posted on PowerPoint materials for the dealership board meeting on Monday, August 24, 2020, Santee Cooper was informed on Thursday, August 13, 2020 that the Public Employee Benefits Authority de SC (PEBA) had launched an investigation into what he described as “Eligibility of board members to participate in the state health plan.”
Specifically, the investigation focused on whether board members were eligible for coverage under the plan … or not.
According to Santee Cooper, the investigation was launched after PEBA “received an inquiry”.
The case must have been very simple, because the investigation has already been completed.
The verdict?
“After its investigation, PEBA determined that Santee Cooper board members are not eligible to participate in the state health plan and coverage will be discontinued as of December 31, 2020,” continued the Santee Cooper board notice.
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
Agency officials promise that they are “researching the matter and will report back as soon as we have more information.”
Wait … what?
This is a joke?
Some obvious questions come to mind: How long have Santee Cooper board members received these benefits? How much did it cost the state? And if they are really being distributed in the wrong way (or worse, fraudulently), why are they not being discontinued immediately?
Seriously … why is the state subsidizing health coverage for these political appointees for another four months if they are not entitled to this coverage?
And are plans being made to repay the state for the money owed?
Here’s the big question, though … how many other political appointees across the state government are receiving undue benefits? And at what cost?
Oh… and what will state lawmakers (who are scheduled to meet again in Columbia, SC next month) do about it?
According to the PEBA website, as of January 2020 there were 514,718 South Carolina state health plan participants – equivalent to ten percent of the state’s 2019 population 5.15 million.
Santee Cooper has made several changes to deaf personnel recently (here and here), but the fiscal cost of those decisions pales in comparison to his broader systemic flaws – which have returned billions of dollars to Palmetto State. And continue to cost your taxpayers.
Most notably? NukeGate – poorly built and eventually abandoned a pair of next generation pressurized water reactors that should have been completed three years ago at a cost of approximately $ 10 billion.
The money was spent … but … without reactors.
As we asked in a post last month: For how many more years – and how many billions of dollars more – are we going to waste on the proven failed notion that the state government can run an energy company?
Because clearly you can’t …
This news outlet has proposed privatizing Santee Cooper more than a dozen years ago – and letting taxpayers reap the rewards of its sale. But state legislators – led by the president of the judiciary of the Senate of SC Luke Rankin – had other ideas. Rankin and his allies continue to believe that Santee Cooper can “reform” … whatever that means.
-FITSNews
*****
WANT TO TURN OFF THE SOUND?
Is there anything you would like to say in response to one of our stories? We have an open mic policy! Send your own letter to the editor (or guest column) by email HERE. Do you have a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Have a technical question or failure to report? CLICK HERE.
Flag: Santee Cooper