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Wednesday, 18 October 2023
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Written by D.G. Martin
How did The Lost Colony fit in the founding of the English colonies in North America?
Virginia Dare was born at the Lost Colony on Roanoke Island, the first child of English parents in America, and that gives North Carolinians a strong claim to be a critical part of the English colonization effort. But since that colony disappeared without a trace, can we claim that this unsuccessful colonization effort was part of later permanent colonization efforts in Virginia and New England?
The answer: Absolutely, says John May, author of an upcoming book to be titled “English America: An Introduction to The Lost Colony and Jamestown.”
It is scheduled for publication next year by McFarland, a leading independent publisher of academic and general-interest nonfiction books.
May argues that the “founding of the first enduring English American colony was one continuous effort interrupted by war with Spain. The Roanoke Island and Jamestown colonies constitute the selfsame history in all meaningful respects.
Think of Jamestown as the second act of the two-act play but under new direction and with it an all-new cast of characters.”
In October 1584, at the request of Sir Walter Raleigh’s supporters, a young scholar, Richard Hakluyt, prepared a prospectus outlining the “potential political advantages of a colony in the part of North America that had been named Virginia.” Hakluyt delivered a copy to Queen Elizabeth.
The queen offered only minimal support for Raleigh’s venture.
But May argues that the objectives outlined in the prospectus “remained unchanged for the next twenty-five years. But in all those years of trial and error— of one heartbreaking failure after another — the one constant and central presence in the effort was Richard Hakluyt.”
Raleigh, the most prominent supporter of the first colonization effort on Roanoke, had the most to gain.
With a successful permanent settlement within seven years of his grant in 1584, Raleigh would be granted title to most of the eastern part of North America. But Raleigh had stepped aside and become involved in other adventures.
Efforts to establish a colony on Roanoke Island continued, and May tells the stories of that colony in engaging detail, beginning with their biggest problem, the unsuitability of our coast, to support a colonization effort.
“The coast of North Carolina was an inauspicious choice for a first colony. From the seashore island for up to fifty miles, the land is swampy or so low-lying it often floods, and much of it in the sixteenth century was thickly forested wetlands that were all but impenetrable.
“English galleons had an average draft of twelve feet but inlets into the Pamlico Sound — through which Roanoke Island is accessed — were blocked to such ships by shallow sandbars that shift with every major storm.
“Dangerous offshore shallows — Wimble, Diamond, and Frying Pan Shoals — extend miles out into the Atlantic, and seas off the Outer Banks are subject to riptides and cross currents caused by the conflicts of the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current.
These hazards have caused countless shipwrecks and given to this region of the North American coast the baleful epitaph’ Graveyard of the Atlantic.’”
In May’s detailed account of the Virginia Colony, his hero is John Smith, the rough-and-ready Daniel Boone character who also fought against the Native Americans and still gained their respect.
The story about the Native American emperor Powhatan’s daughter rescuing Smith from execution is based on Smith’s later written account. May says that, although this account is probably not completely accurate, Pocahontas had a real expectation that Smith would become a part of the Powhatan family. Smith’s failure to meet this expectation was a great disappointment to her.
May’s copious research, combined with his great storytelling gifts, make his story of the Lost Colony and Jamestown histories a reading pleasure.
The Lost Colony itself had disappeared without a trace, but there were others who were “eager to take up the baton and see what profits could be squeezed from the great unknown of North America about which Hakluyt promised so much.”
Editor’s Note: D.G. Martin, a retired lawyer, served as UNC-System’s vice president for public affairs and hosted PBS-NC’s North Carolina Bookwatch.
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Wednesday, 18 October 2023
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Written by Joseph Dowless
I always tell clients it doesn’t matter how good your insurance is on paper if you can’t use it.
In July, I attended a meeting at Cape Fear Valley Hospital where CEO Mike Nagowski and Vice President of Managed Care Bart Fiser announced that due to critical grievances in service, CFV was terminating the UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage network at the hospitals and in 2024, all their other providers as well.
Hospitals often have these disputes with insurance carriers. Last year, Duke Wake Med terminated their relationship with UHC for about six months.
This past February, Charlotte Ears, Nose and Throat also announced that they would be terminating UHC unless negotiations were made.
There are plenty of examples in North Carolina alone, but the situation at Cape Fear Valley has one major difference from what is typical in these situations: it isn’t about money.
Mr. Fiser painted a grim scene of doctor frustration and administrative nightmares, and he claimed that Cape Fear Valley patients were receiving around a 30 percent decline rate of services with UHC Medicare Advantage plans, including things like pacemakers.
Furthermore, prior approval was being downgraded months later. A diagnosis of sepsis being downgraded to pneumonia because it didn’t meet the carrier definition was an example I was provided with.
Mr. Fiser also explained that transmitting medical records to UHC was particularly vexing because the online portals often won’t accept files as large as necessary to transmit data.
Oftentimes, CFV must mail paper copies costing as much as $800 and increasing the turnaround time on decisions.
These high declination rates, administrative difficulties, and reneging on prior approval have been so detrimental to patient care that the executive team felt forced to cut ties.
“I didn’t ask for a single penny. We get higher rates with UHC. We were in partnership with them on shared savings. Denials just got so crazy.” said Fiser.
On October 5th, I met with Mr. Fiser again to see if there were updates that would provide me with insights I could use to better serve my clients. One of my questions centered around PPOs. I had spoken with agents and people in the community who had voiced that if they switched to a UHC PPO plan, they would be fine.
Mr. Fiser stated they “absolutely would not be fine.” While the hospital would accept the PPO plans, they would only do so at an out-of-network rate.
I inquired if any headway had been made to repair the relationship and was told there had been none but that “we would certainly listen if they addressed the issues because we want what’s best for the community.”
I point-blank asked Mr. Fiser if there was a carrier they did not have issues with, and he replied, “we don’t have issues with Blue Cross Blue Shield.” No others were specifically mentioned.
During this annual enrollment period, make an informed decision on your plan for 2024 because, to quote Mr. Fiser, “people don’t want to drive 75 miles for service.”