By Mike Shields
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, March 20
House Republicans are expected to introduce a handful of “market-driven,” health care reform bills over the next few days
perhaps as soon as Thursday
that touch on everything from tax credits to safety net clinics, premium assistance and health savings accounts.
“We”re trying to incentivize the market,” Rep. Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, said of the package of bills soon to be unveiled.
Tuesday, she was busy signing up co-sponsors for a bill or resolution that will fit in the package as its overarching “vision” or statement of principle. She also was trying to find Democrats willing to sign onto the bill and so far had found one.
Also on Tuesday, the House Taxation Committee introduced at the request of Rep. Jeff Colyer, R-Overland Park, a bill that would provide some sort of health tax credits. The bill was introduced “in concept,” so its details weren”t yet ready for legislative or public scrutiny. Colyer said precise language of that and other bills in the House GOP reform package are still being hammered out. Colyer is chairman of the House GOP health task force. Mast is its vice chairman.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, and other GOP leaders said the cost of the House GOP reform package could range between $5 million and $30 million divided between foregone revenues from health-related tax breaks and spending aimed at drawing in additional federal Medicaid dollars.
“It”ll be $5 million, minimum,” Neufeld said Tuesday during a press conference called to describe the House Republican stance on tax cuts this session.
It wasn”t immediately clear how much the House GOP health reform plan might differ from proposed legislation endorsed by the Kansas Health Policy Authority board Tuesday when it agreed to a package of six, short-term fixes and
a longer-range plan for 2008 worked out by the board”s Health for All Kansans Steering Committee.
Marcia Nielsen, executive director of the health policy authority, told board members that she planned to have the agency”s recommended legislation introduced in both the House and the Senate within the next two days, which means it could come out with the House GOP plan, if not part of it.
At least half of the health policy authority”s plan has already been introduced in the Senate as
substitute for Senate Bill 309
. That is the portion of the plan that asks the Legislature to instruct the health policy authority to analyze options for major health reform to be presented to the governor and legislative leaders by Nov. 1 for consideration by the 2008 Legislature. The health policy authority board agreed Tuesday to pursue the steps spelled out in SB 309 with or without legislative approval, but acknowledged it would be preferable if the Legislature were to approve the bill, too.
Some elements of the health policy authority”s six-point plan for this year are already at play in the legislative arena. The House recently approved $1.2 million to expand the state”s newborn screening protocol, which is
one of the six health policy authority recommendations for action this session.
And Colyer, who also serves on the Health for All Kansans Steering Committee, said he was working to incorporate as many of its other five recommendations as possible into the House reform package, though he didn”t yet know how much overlap there might be between the two plans.
Sources who have seen drafts of the House GOP “vision” statement noted similarities between it and substitute for Senate Bill 309, but the House version proposes that no health reform be done that requires mandates or tax increases. There is no such stricture in the Senate bill. The House version also has stronger language endorsing the power of the market and the central role played by insurance companies in providing health insurance.
-Mike Shields is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
mshields@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 123.