The House Health Care Committee Thursday revealed an early draft of a committee bill “ensuring success in health care reform.” The committee bill is the third step in health care reform that began with the passage last year of the comprehensive reform bill that included Catamount Health.

Earlier this year, the committee approved the second step; a series of “technical corrections” (H.229) to last year’s reforms. The corrections legislation is now in another House committee where disagreements over employer assessments are being aired.

The new draft bill contains provisions designed to bolster outreach initiatives for Catamount Health and other state sponsored programs and to simplify the enrollment process for those programs. The draft proposal also contains very aggressive timelines for completing the transformation of how services for chronic conditions are treated and managed in accordance with the state’s Blueprint for Health. Also included in the draft is a provision allowing providers to collectively bargain with insurers, and authorization for BISHCA to gather information on reimbursement rates by payers and to report on that information.

Some of the requirements in the draft are controversial and are likely to provoke a lively discussion. The committee hopes to hear testimony on the draft bill during the week of March 11, after it returns from the legislature’s week-long Town Meeting Day break this week. The committee expects to complete deliberation and approve a bill by the end of that week.

Meanwhile, the Ways and Means Committee is considering further exemptions to the employer assessment requirements in last year’s reform law as part of its review of the revenue aspects of H.229. The Health Care Committee included exemptions for seasonal workers to the assessment earlier this session and now employers and their legislative champions are seeking exemptions for part-time workers as well. Proponents of the exemption are consulting with both committees to win their endorsement.

The Senate Finance Committee held hearings on a bill (S.62) last week to allow unemployed divorced spouses to continue coverage on the employed former spouse’s group health plan. Proponents of the bill argued there would be negligible impact on costs but had no data on how many people might be affected. Insurers argued that there would be increased administrative costs, a likely impact on group experience due to adverse risk selection, and that there are alternatives that would accomplish the same goal, such as the new Catamount Health plan. The committee will continue deliberations next week.

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee devoted its week to the prescription drug bill (S.115) referred to them earlier by the Finance Committee.

The legislature is on leave this week and will return Tuesday, March 13. Committees must complete work on bills by the end of that week to ensure that the legislation will be considered by the other chamber. There will be no Legislative Report next week.

New Bills of Interest:

H.417 Introduced by Representatives Fisher of Lincoln and Sharpe of Bristol

This bill proposes to establish the Vermont freedom plan to cover certain health-related services for all Vermonters.

H.475 Introduced by Representative Heath of Westford

This bill proposes to require health plans to allow parents to pay an additional premium to cover an adult child on their health plan until the child is 30 years of age.

H.491 Introduced by Representative Morrissey of Bennington and others

Pharmacy benefits

S.139 Introduced by Senator Lyons of Chittenden District and others

This bill proposes to require girls entering grade 6 to show evidence of HPV vaccination; require parents objecting on religious or moral grounds to sign a statement acknowledging receipt of information about the connection between HPV and cervical cancer; and appropriates funds to the department of health to purchase HPV vaccine.

S.140 Introduced by Senator Lyons of Chittenden District and others

This bill proposes to ensure confidentiality of patient prescription records and prevent the use of this information for commercial purposes.

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 wish to discontinue receiving these updates or know of anyone else who would like to receive it, please call Kathy Parry or send an e-mail to parryk@bcbsvt.com