NHHA
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
January 16, 2006
Legislative hearings have begun, and health care issues
are front and center. Access to care, quality of care, and
reporting of health care data top the list of dozens of health
care bills.
This past week the Senate Health & Human Services Committee
considered a bill requiring medical interpretation services
for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP).
NHHA testified that the definition of “qualified interpreter,”
is so narrow as to limit the pool of interpreters that can
serve LEP patients in hospitals. While permitting the use of
language line and language bank interpreters, SB 316
would limit hospitals to using only those interpreters either
trained or registered with the Southern New Hampshire Area
Health Education Center. Should the legislature deem it
necessary to create a licensing or certification authority,
such responsibility is a government function. Taking note of
NHHA’s concerns, the bill’s prime sponsor, Senator Martha
Fuller Clark (D-Portsmouth), committed to revising the bill.
A supplemental Medicaid appropriation bill was
presented to the House Finance Committee to compensate for
budget reductions affecting a variety of health care
providers, including hospitals, resulting from the passage of
the 2006/2007 State budget. With the state bringing in more
revenues than anticipated, legislators propose closing part of
the funding gap. This appropriation bill – HB 1710 –
would provide $11.9 million, of which $7 million would be
targeted for outpatient hospital services. Click here to see
NHHA’s testimony in support of this appropriation.
The House Commerce Committee considered a bill that would
require hospitals to post their charges and average payments
from health insurers for services and supplies and to report
this information to the Insurance Department. The state would
then be required to compile this information and post it on a
website. While we favor transparency and share the bill’s
sponsors’ interests, HB 1723 fails to consider using
existing data sets already in place, some of which are
relatively untapped or inaccessible to the public. The bill’s
prime sponsor, Rep. Neal Kurk (R-Weare), expressed his
interest in amending the bill. A similar bill, HB 1469,
requires hospitals to compile a list of charges for the 25
most common procedures or services at each facility. The
hearing on this bill will be held January 26th.
Not-for-profit employers with more than 1500 employees would
be required to spend at least 8.5% of payroll on employee
health benefits or pay the difference into a state Medicaid
fund, and for-profit employers would have to spend a minimum
of 10.5% on health benefits. The sponsors of the so-called
“Wal-Mart” health insurance bill - HB 1704 designed the
bill to reduce the number of uninsured workers in the state by
increasing employer-based health coverage. In their testimony,
the bill’s sponsors indicated that the bill would be amended
to reduce the percentages of payroll to 6% (non-profit) and 8%
(for-profit). A related bill, HB 1703, would require employers
with 500 or more workers to report to the Department of
Employment Security the percentage of payroll spent on health
insurance premiums for employees.
Hearings scheduled for this week include two bills on hospital
infection reporting, insurance coverage for bone marrow
testing, and prohibiting services for illegal immigrants. On
Wednesday, Governor John Lynch will deliver the State of the
State Address to a joint session of the House and Senate.
Go to
http://www.nhha.org/nhha/state_law/bills.php to view the
list of bills NHHA will be tracking in 2005-2006. Additional bills
will be added as we become aware of them.
