The Opinion Blog

Lives Ruined, Answers Needed

Thursday’s second editorial urges the state Department of Insurance to open a new investigation into the activities of salesman Rick McDavid, whose exploits were chronicled by David Wren this past Sunday:

It was hard to read reporter David Wren’s article this past Sunday, detailing the financial ruin of dozens of local seniors in a complex insurance and mortgage plan, without becoming outraged and angry. Where was the state? Aren’t those selling insurance supposed to be regulated? Why was this allowed to continue for so long?

The state Department of Insurance, in fact, opened two investigations into the actions of salesman Rick McDavid, who it must be said has not been convicted of any wrongdoing and maintains he did nothing illegal. Both of those investigations – one in 2011 and one in 2012 – were dismissed quickly after McDavid said he didn’t do anything wrong.

In closing the second case, the investigator said that the matter was ended at least in part because of a lack of supporting documentation. That’s perhaps understandable, if frustrating. It’s hard to prosecute or investigate wrongdoing if you’re not sure what exactly is being alleged. But some of that blame may lie with the Insurance Department, which it appears never asked for more information beyond the standard complaint form before dismissing the cases. Now that reporter David Wren and attorney Sid Connor have done the hard work of pulling these stories together and illustrating their common threads, we hope the Insurance Department will rethink its former summary dismissals.

Clearly, something went very wrong for the many victims involved in this saga. McDavid’s purported actions were at the very least immoral, financing a lavish lifestyle by taking advantage in many cases of vulnerable seniors willing to trust a person referred to them by a fellow church member or relative. Nevertheless, it may yet turn out that he actually did nothing illegal. If that’s the case, the legislature should get work on laws that would prevent future unscrupulous copycats. The first step, however, should be another probe by the Insurance Department, and soon, this time giving McDavid’s activities more than a cursory glance.

Meanwhile, if nothing else, the story reminds us once more of lessons that are never too old to be learned again: If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Read it before you sign it. Don’t let yourself be bullied into signing anything you don’t understand, especially when it affects your personal finances. And don’t put all your faith in a handshake and a smile.

 

Victory at the Hotel Pools

Tuesday’s editorial:

News last week that Congress had finally acted to scrap the absurd regulation barring temporary pool enclosures in floodplains was an all too rare example of common sense at last winning out over one-size-fits-all federal regulations. And while the change comes only after some local hotels forked out tens of thousands of dollars to comply with the rules, the belated fix is welcome nonetheless.

HGTC: Spreading Smiles



HGTC’s new dental education facility is good news in multiple ways, as Thursday’s editorial explains:

Talking with The Sun News’ editorial board in February, HGTC President Neyle Wilson said the local college was having to be “really, really selective” in choosing which programs to pursue, particularly in health care, because of declining state and federal aid. With that in mind, the opening in June of the school’s Robert E. Speir Healthcare Education Center, and particularly the building’s dental center, is a wonderful example of targeted, smart choices by those in charge.

Fair Deal for the Season



Friday’s editorial applauds the compromise reached in the legislature on reducing soaring unemployment insurance bills:

Seasonal workers on the Grand Strand could be in for a surprise next year.

As the legislature quickly headed toward the end of its regular session this week, a compromise bill on unemployment benefits passed on Wednesday containing a new restriction on unemployment benefits for those who work for seasonal businesses. The change comes with a number of others that should ease the draconian increases in unemployment insurance rates that surprised businesses following last year’s reform of the state’s ill-fated Employment Security Commission.

Direct Experience

For lieutenant governor, a position that should be combined on a ticket with the governor, Eleanor Kitzman has the most directly applicable experience, though Ken Ard also presents an appealing campaign.

As we consider the race for lieutenant governor, our first thought is that this should not be an election at all.

The lieutenant governor's primarily responsibility is to take office if the governor becomes unable to serve, so the two positions should be elected from on one combined ticket (like president and vice president), to ensure continuity in an unexpected change of administration. Pairing them would also allow the two to work as a team, almost allowing the governor to be in two places at once.

Such a move would require a constitutional amendment that the state legislature has thus far been unable to muster, so S.C. Republican voters are faced with the choice between four candidates.

Of the four, Eleanor Kitzman's experience most directly applies to the work of lieutenant governor. Part of the lieutenant governor's job is overseeing the S.C. Office on Aging, and as the former Director of Insurance under Gov. Mark Sanford, Kitzman has executive-branch leadership experience on an issue of obvious importance to seniors.

Eleanor Kitzman: "I have run a state agency. I'm really the only candidate that has that level of executive experience."

Eleanor Kitzman, a candidate for lieutenant governor, notes that her experience far outweighs that of her opponents, in that she's the only candidate to have headed an executive branch agency: she was director of the Department of Insurance for Gov. Mark Sanford, until she was replaced during the controversy over expanding the wind pool.

The Sanford connection remains obvious: Kitzman is a proven champion of the free market, describing how the deregulation of the auto insurance industry several years ago led her to move to South Carolina and open her own insurance company. This video is worth watching to the end, where she describes rising from her start as a divorced teenage mother with no high school education to a law-school graduate based on her reading skills, and her desire to find a way to use the lieutenant governor's office to encourage more reading in South Carolina.

Kitzman spoke to The Sun News editorial board May 28. Our questions for her are after the video.

Fix the Bill

Thursday’s editorial encourages Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint to put their overt display of partisanship aside and vote for fixes to problems in the new health care law that they were just recently criticizing.

Though mostly obscured by a year’s worth of irresponsible rhetoric, there were plenty of reasonable policy objections to be made to our country’s health care law.

The major issues were mostly settled by President Obama’s signature on Tuesday. Even if Republicans retake the House, Senate and presidency in rapid succession, the new law truly does incorporate enough popular Republican ideas that an outright repeal of it is extremely unlikely.

Yet the reform bill was far from flawless, and it will certainly itself continue being reformed. And the first of the reforms – addressing concerns raised by Republicans and Democrats alike – has already passed the House and is being debated by the Senate right now in what is called the reconciliation bill.

Helping With Care

Tuesday’s second editorial notes the new partnership between two of the Grand Strand’s leading health-care charities.

Little River Medical Center stepped up in a big way to help SharedCare of Horry County continue medical services to uninsured, low-income residents. The recessionary economy, which unfortunately does not seem likely to improve much in some segments any time soon, has forced SharedCare to completely reorganize to keep its clients in medical care.

Something We Can Agree On

Friday’s article examines the broad agreements between President Obama’s health care reforms and most Republican proposals to suggest that it already is a centrist plan.

Can we now, finally, all concede that President Obama’s health care proposal is not a socialist government takeover of medicine? Because that’s what Republican Congressional leaders finally did on Thursday, when they were forced to sit down and talk about the actual plan point by point.

Necessary impossibilities

Saturday’s editorial recommends Congress devote itself to the spending restraint and entitlement reform that will correct the country’s unsustainable budget crisis.

Editor’s note: Part 2 of 2 about the federal budget.

You will hear, in the coming weeks, about the massive deficits contained in the Obama administration’s budgets.

In dollar terms, they truly are staggering: nearly $1.6 trillion this year and $1.3 trillion in 2011. To be fair, tax revenues are still projected to be about 15 percent beneath their peak in 2007 and 2008, while the costs of everything (especially including those mandatory programs) have continued to rise. Moreover, President Obama inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit when he took office and still plans to cut it to about $700 billion as the economy recovers near the end of his term. Even so, our country is clearly on an unsustainable path – and the “wasteful spending” you will hear described is only a small part of the problem.