NHHA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
NH Legislature
Wraps Up 2008 Session
The legislative session ended this week with the passage of
a budget-balancing bill called for by the Governor in a last
minute Special Session. The passage of the budget bill means
a balanced budget for 2008, thereby saving health and human
service programs from further cuts. The Legislature approved
the Governor's request to fill the hole in the state budget
through a variety of methods including the bonding of school
construction aid.
In other legislative action, legislators supported hospitals
on a number of bills. One of the more contentious bills this
session was HB 1587, which if passed, would have established
a whole new array of privacy standards that far exceed HIPAA.
The House voted it down, but approved the continued study of
the issue.
NHHA was successful in defeating a proposal that would have
required providers to accept as payment in full from
uninsured patients the average payment received from health
insurers. NHHA convinced legislators that the problem of the
uninsured in New Hampshire requires a more comprehensive
solution, which is currently under study by the Task Force
on Affordable Health Insurance.
Legislators supported hospitals by rejecting a proposal
requiring providers to create dummy claims for services
provided to uninsured patients. SB 425 was sent back to
committee for further study because of concerns about the
financial burden on providers to produce claims for
uninsured patients, confusion about how to define the
uninsured, as well as protection of patients' privacy.
See
NHHA's list of key bills for the outcome of this year’s
legislative session.
A complete list of bills NHHA is following is available at www.nhha.org/nhha/state_law/bills.php. Go to http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/ to view the list of bills NHHA is tracking.
