A health-care reform proposal, part of the state's HealthPrint proposal phase-in process, will have to race the clock to clear both bodies of the Legislature before the session ends next Wednesday.
Gov. Mike Leavitt, who has made health reform one of his priorities, believes the bill will become law without too much trouble.If passed, Substitute HB305 would allow state health officials to seek federal permission to expand Medicaid beyond its current eligibility categories. Expansion potentially could provide health coverage to 56,000 more poor people. The expansion is cost-neutral because of savings in the Medicaid program realized by putting clients in managed care and placing caps on expenditures.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Byron Harward, R-Provo, said it also establishes area health-education centers and improves sharing of data "about what really works" among health-care professionals. Rural health would get a boost, and the bill would enact a limited open enrollment period so that small groups and individuals could get insurance.
Members of the House Health Standing Committee voted to delay action on the "Health System Improvement Act" until the next hearing late Thursday afternoon so legislators can examine it more closely.
Friday is the last day the House will consider House bills, unless they are specifically called up by a two-thirds vote. So the bill will have to be rushed to get through the House and, assuming it passes, through the Senate before the session ends.
But the governor said that while national pressure for health-care reform has lessened and President Clinton's bill is apparently dead in the water, he believes Utah's health-care reform bill is still on track and will pass the Legislature this year. He said all sides have agreed on provisions that are needed.
Leavitt's comments were made during his monthly press conference in the studios of KUED, Channel 7, on Wednesday.
Earlier, Utah insurance carriers said they support certain changes in health-care rules, including making insurance portable from job to job and doing away with requirements about previously existing conditions that prevent some Utahns from getting insurance.
Harward believes the open-enrollment aspect of the bill may be the most important. Insurance companies right now "compete on who they can exclude." During the enrollment period, any insurance carriers who now accept small employers would accept all eligible small employers and individuals as long as they met other criteria.
There is an enrollment cap so that insurance carriers are not forced to enroll more people than they can adequately cover and so they won't face hardship.
The legislation also tackles some of the barriers associated with accessing rural care. One aspect of the bill changes licensing regulations. The bill allows a facility to add procedures if it can do so safely.
Although the bill seems to have broad support, Don Ruzika of Eagle Forum said he worries that the bill tries to take on too much. Of particular concern is the Medicaid expansion, "which is taking pre-defined limits and turning it over to a state agency without any real government control . . . "
The bill will top the agenda when the committee reconvenes at 4 p.m. Thursday.