By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Feb. 7
A key Republican senator and the director of the Kansas Health Policy Authority agreed in principle today on a process to develop a comprehensive health care reform plan.
Sen. Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, and Marcia Nielsen, executive director of KHPA, agreed that broad reform initiatives being developed by a Senate task force that can”t be worked this session will be handed off to the health policy authority”s recently-formed Health for All Kansans Steering Committee. The steering committee
which includes legislators and members of the health policy authority”s board
would consider those proposals and others in developing a plan to extend health coverage to an estimated 300,000 uninsured Kansans. The goal would have the plan ready for the 2008 Legislature to consider.
“I think everyone in this room wants to have all our citizens covered,” Barnett said at the close of the final meeting of the Senate Health Care Task Force.
Responding to a question from Barnett about whether she believed it was possible to develop consensus around a plan, Nielsen said: “I absolutely believe we can do this in the state of Kansas and that we should do this. Having the plan and the political will to implement the plan will be the key. I believe that we need a full year”s work.”
Last month, at the health policy authority”s annual retreat, Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius also requested that the authority spearhead an effort to build consensus around a plan to provide all Kansans with health coverage.
Barnett has scheduled a Statehouse news conference with Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, for 1 p.m. Thursday in room 126-S.
One reform idea
The exchange between Barnett and Nielsen occurred after the second day of testimony by Edmund F. Haislmaier, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington, D.C. think-tank. The Senate task force invited Haislmaier to Kansas to explain model legislation he developed that would create a health insurance exchange similar to one in the Massachusetts universal coverage law. That model has been incorporated into Senate Bill 309.
Under the proposal, employers that now purchase insurance through the small-group market could instead provide their employees with money
the amount would vary from business to business
to purchase individual plans through the exchange. The state would subsidize the purchase of coverage by low-income individuals. Buying coverage through an exchange, Haislmaier said, would make insurance more portable, meaning that individuals could take it with them from job to job.
Haislmaier said the current employer-based system makes it difficult and costly for small businesses to offer coverage.
“For a variety of reasons I think we ought to give up on that model and admit that it doesn”t work,” he said.
When asked specifically to react to the Heritage proposal Nielsen said: “It is an important way that we may be able to deal with small businesses and individuals that have a hard time maintaining health insurance. This is something that should definitely be looked at, but we should come up with a Kansas specific solution.”
Rep. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita, reacted cautiously after listening to Haislmaier explain the insurance exchange proposal to the House Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee.
“It sounds like it”s geared toward the younger generation,” Goudeau said, keying on the fact that the plan is designed to make it easier for young adults who now lack insurance to purchase it. “For them, it sounds like a great idea, a great concept. But I think were going to need more information if we”re going to implement something like that here in Kansas.”
Approximately half of uninsured Kansans are between the ages of 18 and 34.
One of the main features of the Massachusetts reform law is a requirement that individuals purchase health insurance. Nielsen said such a requirement may also be necessary to make any Kansas reform plan work. But, agreeing with Haislmaier, she said a decision on a so-called individual mandate shouldn”t be among the first made.
“I agree with Ed”s analysis that we get all the other pieces in place and leave that to the end,” she said.
Governor lauds national reform effort
Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius issued a news release praising a set of health-reform principles announced Wednesday by group of the nation”s largest businesses and labor organizations. The health reform partnership includes Wal-Mart, AT’T, Intel, Kelly Services Inc., the Service Employees International Union and the Communications Workers of America.
At a Washington, D.C. news conference, representatives of the participating businesses and labor groups said the following four principles should guide efforts to reform the nation”s health care system, a goal they hope to reach by 2012:
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Every person in America must have quality, affordable health insurance coverage.
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Individuals have a responsibility to maintain and protect their health.
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America must dramatically improve the value it receives for every health care dollar.
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Businesses, governments and individuals all should contribute to managing and financing a new American health care system.
“The fact that business and labor have come together to issue a united call for change is remarkable,” Sebelius said. “There is broad recognition that our current health care system is broken and widespread agreement that it will take cooperation between businesses, workers, providers and government to fix it.”
Sebelius is expected to address the first meeting of the health authority”s steering committee, which is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9, in the Eisenhower State Office Building.
Jim McLean is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
jmclean@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 110.