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Bill Moves Toward Universal Health Care; Plan Offers Preventive Treatment Statewide for Uninsured Residents

Posted on: Friday, 20 January 2006, 00:00 CST

By JENNIFER BUNDY

The House is using Gov. Joe Manchin's health care proposals to move West Virginia toward universal health care, House Finance Committee Chairman Harold Michael said.

The finance committee discussed combining Manchin's health care proposals into one bill that also establishes a Commission on Health Care Reform and sets benchmarks for expanding services so that all West Virginians can have access to basic health care by 2010.

The bill also could give the Health Care Authority unprecedented control over hospital budgets.

Because several committee members wanted more time to consider amendments, the panel delayed a vote on the bill until this afternoon.

The Senate Health and Human Resources Committee, meanwhile, advanced with only a minor change Manchin's bill to establish a no- frills insurance plan.

"We applaud the governor's bills, what he's trying to do. We saw it as an opportunity to really take a comprehensive look," said Michael, D-Hardy. He said he wrote the new bill with the committee attorney and House Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh.

Numerous boards and commission have studied health care and tried to come up with ways to help the almost 300,000 West Virginians who have no health coverage, Michael said. Most of those are adults who work but their employers don't offer coverage or they can't afford the coverage that is offered.

"A lot of people think universal health care is a bad word. I don't think it is," Michael said. "Why are some people entitled to health care and some people are not?"

The committee's bill incorporates Manchin's proposal to establish a pilot project that would provide, for a monthly fee, payments for doctor visits, basic testing and reduced prices on prescriptions for people who work but do not have health insurance. That program would start July 1.

The new bill also would offer a package of primary and preventive health care services statewide for uninsured residents under a new Appalachian Health Plan beginning July 1, 2007. That coverage would be offered through insurance companies and other practitioners and would be similar to Manchin's proposed "Affordable Insurance Initiative." People would pay deductibles and copayments on a sliding scale, based on income.

On July 1, 2008, that plan would be expanded to include hospitalization coverage. On July 1, 2009, it would make a "minimum common benefit" available to all West Virginians.

At each step certain financial and feasibility criteria have to be met and the Legislature would have a chance to tinker with the program.

The House and Senate health care committees would have six public hearings on the proposal within the next year.

The House bill incorporates Manchin's bill to set up a panel to work on a West Virginia Health Information Network.

The section that gives the Health Care Authority greater control over hospital budgets has a caveat. The authority must first establish an advisory committee to determine if the budgetary review process outlined in the bill is the most efficient and if it's not, recommend alternatives.

"It's a very comprehensive and complex task they are proposing," said authority Chairwoman Sonia Chambers.

The authority now sets rates for hospitals and approves certain capital expenditures but under the bill could control how much money hospitals get. The bill calls for a spending baseline. The authority would establish an annual rate of growth and set each hospital budget.

"We have some serious concerns," said Tony Gregory of the West Virginia Hospital Association.

He and Thom Stevens, a lobbyist for Charleston Area Medical Center and United Hospital Center, said they are eager to work with House leaders on that portion of the bill.

Source: Charleston Daily Mail

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