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RALEIGH – There was another packed house Tuesday, as the interested observers watched state lawmakers push forward a bill to overhaul the state employees' health insurance plan.

The bill is quite expansive, but the main actions in this proposal are:

- Moving the health plan out of legislative control into the state treasurers' office
- Making the contract for the health plan a public record
- Start charging participants in the plan.

“Similar to the governor,” says Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Henderson County Republican, “we are asking participants in this program to help stabilize the plan by paying monthly premiums.”

It is this point that is causing the most disagreement. The State Employees' Association of North Carolina (SEANC) has said while they don't like the idea of premiums, overall they like this overhaul. Educators and retirees disagree, and say a premium would be unfair.

“So when we are talking about these folks, they should not be overlooked,” says Wanda Caldwell, a retired educator. “They should be provided for because that was promised to all of us 40 years ago.”

As expected, this bill was approved in committee and moved on to House Appropriations.

Debate on this bill started just one week ago, and is already approved by the Senate. Now it's on way to its second committee in the House. But legislative leaders say this fast pace is necessary.

“If we don't have this completed by around the first of April, we miss the opportunity for this fiscal year to make these changes in the state health plan,” says Republican Sen. Phil Berger, Senate President Pro-tem, “and we end up with a $500 million hole or additional $500 million dollars we'll have to find to balance the budget.”

With the new month starting at the end of the week, legislators say they are working toward getting this bill approved just as quickly.