Stalled health bills entangle reform debate

AUGUSTA – In the first of three work sessions scheduled for this week, Gov. John Baldacci’s health care reform bill came under legislative scrutiny Tuesday. To add to the controversy that already exists, some lawmakers wanted to incorporate other health bills that have become stalled in the process waiting for the Baldacci plan to appear.

The governor’s bill, LD 1611, proposes a state-administered insurance program as a move toward universal health coverage, while proposing a system to rein in costs.

In establishing the agenda for the next two days of fine-tuning, members of the specially convened Joint Select Committee on Health Care Reform listed major concerns raised at last week’s public hearing. They included the proposal’s “global budget,” which is strongly opposed by hospitals and physicians, and a 4.1 percent surcharge on insurance premiums that has insurance companies up in arms.

But new to the discussion Tuesday was debate over whether the governor’s bill should incorporate a number of other legislative proposals that had been put on hold this session in anticipation of Baldacci’s plan.

Dozens of health care proposals, including more than a hundred affecting health insurance, were introduced, and many have been left languishing. Sen. Arthur Mayo, R- Bath, who serves on the Insurance and Financial Affairs Committee, said the committee has not taken action on several bills, including one that would establish a special insurance plan for high-risk health care consumers. Another would restructure the way risk is calculated, and one would lift travel restrictions affecting coverage benefits.

“There are a number of pieces of legislation that we hung out until this [reform bill] was settled,” Mayo said, suggesting that the unsettled proposals might find a home in the governor’s bill.

Sen. Karl Turner, R-Cumberland, who serves on the Appropriations Committee, agreed it was appropriate to incorporate the unresolved bills. “It should all be part and parcel,” he said. “How can this proposal be considered comprehensive without the inclusion of these issues?”

But reform committee co-chair Sen. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, whose Health and Human Services committee also has held up certain bills, cautioned against bringing new issues into the already unwieldy proposal. “I don’t want to stray too far outside what’s already in this bill,” he said.

Brennan was backed up by Rep. Thomas Kane, D-Saco. “I’d hope we don’t have to weigh [the governor’s bill] down with a host of important but complex issues,” Kane said. “I hope it’s not going to turn into a grab bag for everything that isn’t in it.”

Before the committee meeting, Senate Majority Leader Sharon A. Treat, D-Farmingdale, the Baldacci bill’s co-sponsor, spoke at a press conference in which she asked doctors and hospital officials to help pass the governor’s bill. Both groups have voiced strong concerns it will force layoffs and closings at Maine’s rural hospitals, despite assurances that a proposed amendment will safeguard their interests.

Treat said there will be time to iron out problems and make sure the numbers work. “Maine people truly are looking to us and the rest of the Legislature for help. We can’t let them down, and I know we won’t,” she said.