Summer Edition 2025 | Living Power Magazine
By North Carolina State Treasurer Brad Briner
I enjoyed getting the chance to speak to so many of you in June at the “Pension, Protections, and Public Trust” webinar sponsored by RGEA. My team is working every day to make sure we are good stewards of taxpayer dollars and—carefully—grow those dollars for you.
I thought this would be a good opportunity to recap what I talked about for those of you who could not attend—and some of the questions you had.
The State Health Plan, which serves over 750,000 state employees, retirees, and their dependents, is facing a $500 million-dollar deficit in 2026.
I knew this was one of my first and top priorities when I came into office. I’ve worked with the SHP Board of Trustees and our team here at the department to come up with a plan to fill that hole. It’s not perfect, and it will impact folks. But it is necessary. Active employees and retirees not on Medicaid will see higher deductibles and prescription costs. Retirees on Medicare Advantage will see only one economic change—a small $100 annual total out of pocket maximum increase for medication. All the other deductibles and copayments will remain the same. You will also be asked to carry two insurance cards instead of just one in 2026 (a move that saves the Plan $70 million a year). The state is also kicking in more money—around $100 million each year. And the providers are working with us to keep costs down and to help us to create some innovative ways to find savings. As far as our pension fund—I have told you about my goal to modernize our approach. I’m happy to report the legislature has backed our plan to go from a sole fiduciary (just me) to a board of experts to make investment decisions. By the time I write my next column for you, that plan will be in law, and we will be working on the transition. This will help to stabilize the strategy going forward. We are also moving ahead with our plans to improve investments, aiming for a higher rate of return, while still taking less risk than other states. What does this mean for you? It means the pension plan would be more completely funded and will move in a direction where state lawmakers could consider Cost of Living Adjustments down the road.
And perhaps the issue related to pensions I am getting the most questions about—is whether we want Bitcoin in our portfolio. Digital currency is something that is gaining in popularity because of the potential to act as a hedge to the US Dollar. But it still has high volatility. Legislation being considered at the state level would allow my office to study the use of it—and then allow us to invest. But there is no mandate being considered, and no plans to put it into our investment strategy anytime soon.
We know we are working with your hard-earned dollars and overseeing your health through the Plan. I’m lucky to have a great team here at the Department of State Treasurer who take that responsibility to heart every day. Thank you all for your time, please feel free to reach out to us any time if we can help!