The Big Story is: “There’s (Figurative) Blood On The Floor At Leg Hall”. You (and I) just knew that the Hall would be swarming with hospital execs and healthcare providers of all stripes to hyperventilate over HB 350 (Longhurst). And it was:
Longhurst said in 2018 the state established the health care spending benchmark as a way to “prevent drastic increases in costs” that could “price out” Delawareans from getting the services they need. The spending benchmark has been between 3% and 4%, but health care providers have only hit that target in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
“Every other year, health care spending has far surpassed the benchmark we set as a state, including years with 11% growth in health care costs,” Longhurst said during Wednesday’s House Administration Committee meeting discussing the bill. “And the question is why? Because we, despite setting the goal, have no mechanism as a state to help meet those targets.”
Brian Frazee, President & CEO of the Delaware Healthcare Association – representing several hospitals statewide, said the bill is not the best way to reduce health care costs nor ensure “robust health care delivery” in Delaware.
“This bill would take away the authority of our local community leaders who serve on our hospital boards, and give it to a politically appointed, five-member board that would essentially take control of our hospitals,” Frazee said. “We fundamentally think that that is the wrong approach because our local communities and our local community leaders know what’s best for our hospitals, and we think that should remain.”
That statement sounds a little, um, disingenuous to me. He makes it sound like a bunch of plain ol’ folks who live in the community get together to determine fees that hospitals charge for services, not the hospitals and the corporations who run them. I’m having difficulty buying into that. Now, do I think that a ‘politically-appointed board’ should make these decisions? I don’t know. I do know, however, that bills can be introduced for a variety of reasons. If HB 350 can have a jawboning impact on rising health care fees, then it will have been effective, even if it is never voted on. I look forward to following this one as I think that a rock has been overturned, with the resultant scurrying.
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. Looks like all the notable bills discussed here yesterday cleared their respective committees, including both SB 13 and HB 350 (a House Substitute was introduced in lieu of the original).
Perhaps the most notable bill on today’s House Agenda is HB 355 (Osienski), which:
…provides legal protections for financial institutions and other entities that provide financial or accounting services to cannabis-related businesses that are licensed or registered under Delaware law. Specifically, it clarifies that banks, credit unions, armored car services, and providers of accounting services are not subject to prosecution under Delaware law merely by providing lawful services to licensed businesses engaged in the production, distribution and sale of cannabis in Delaware.
Also worth checking out–HB 275 (Morrison) and HB 313 (Neal).
A similar agenda awaits in the Senate–bills that incrementally improve things. Like SB 194 (McBride), SS1/SB 164 Hoffner, and SB 198 (Hansen).
All in all, a pretty productive week. After today’s session, the General Assembly recesses until Tuesday, April 16.