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The Vermont legislature steamed ahead on health care issues last week as they heard Governor Douglas prescribe tough medicine for the state’s Medicaid fiscal woes, and a Senate committee voted unanimously to recommend the state join an Illinois-based drug re-importation program. The Governor unveiled his Medicaid proposal to address a $20 million FY’05 shortfall and a looming $78 million FY’06 deficit during his annual budget address to a joint assembly of the legislature on Wednesday. Medicaid now consumes a quarter of all state funding and is growing at such a rapid pace that the administration predicts a cumulative deficit of $597 million in five years unless steps are taken to disrupt the trend. The administration held general briefings for major constituencies affected by the Medicaid proposal in the hours preceding the Governor’s speech to legislators. Vermont’s Medicaid program pays some or all of the health care costs for 25 percent of the state’s population, according to the administration, and if unrestrained, the program will consume $670 million dollars in combined state and federal revenues in FY’06. That represents an $85 million increase in state spending from 2004 to 2006, according to a state report. The Governor’s recommendation has several major components:
The various legislative committees with health care responsibilities spent the week educating themselves on the broad health care system and issues relating to financing when they weren’t engaged in the drug re-importation issue. The House passed a bill endorsed the previous week by its Human Services Committee that would eliminate the March 1, 2005 expiration date in a statute that requires health insurers to pay for routine patient costs for patients enrolled in cancer clinical trials in locally based cancer treatment programs. There may be an attempt to expand the law to other conditions or to cover all institutions conducting trials when the proposal reaches the Senate. This week the full Senate will debate the re-importation proposal and the Senate Health and Welfare Committee will hear the chair of Coalition 21, former House Speaker Stephen Morse, on Tuesday before turning its attention to Medicaid and substance abuse issues the remainder of the week. The House Health Committee will continue its work on re-importation and overviews of the health care system. New Bills H.67 Introduced by Representative Tracy of Burlington and others This bill proposes to require the secretary of administration to join the I-SaveRx prescription drug program launched in Illinois so that all Vermont residents can purchase lower cost prescription drugs from Europe and Canada. (Identical to the Senate Finance proposal.) S.22 Introduced by Senator Leddy of Chittenden and Senator White of Windham This bill proposes to require state-regulated health insurers to provide coverage for the off-label use of prescription drugs for cancer. S.23 Introduced by Senator Miller of Chittenden and others This bill would allow naturopathic physicians providing treatment within their scope of practice to be reimbursed for providing medically necessary health care services that are covered by a health insurance plan. For more information on legislative proposals, visit the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont website at www.bcbsvt.com or call Leigh Tofferi at (802) 223-6131 or Kathy Parry at (802) 371-3205. If you would prefer to receive these updates by FAX or e-mail, wish to discontinue receiving these updates or know of anyone else who would like to receive it, please call Kathy Parry at the above number or send an e-mail to parryk@bcbsvt.com |
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