MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri House gave its loud and clear support to the managed care regulation bill Thursday that would give consumers more rights when dealing with their health care providers.
By a vote of 135-19, state representatives approved the bill, which would set statewide standards for managed care providers. Members of the joint committee that drafted the legislation praised steady bi-partisan support for the lopsided final vote.
"I think it's great that, as the bill progressed, support picked up," said Rep. John Griesheimer, R-Washington, who served on the committee.
Seventeen states have similar legislation regulating managed care, but Missouri currently does not have such a law.
Bill sponsor Tim Harlan, D-Columbia, said many HMOs in Missouri already adhere to guidelines the bill sets forth but this bill would unify their operational standards. In Missouri, 40 percent of people covered by health insurance use health maintenance organizations.
Griesheimer said those consumers will be the biggest winners if this legislation passes the Senate. After being debated for nine days on the House floor, the bill faces one more formal vote in the House before it can move to the Senate. However, Thursday's vote indicates final House passage should be no problem.
The bill's Senate sponsor, Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, said he plans to introduce the House version in the Senate in hopes of keeping the bill moving through the lawmaking process.
Maxwell said he was pleasantly surprised by the House vote.
"I don't know of an insurance bill that it's ever been done before," he said of the discrepancy between supporters and opponents. "To consumers, I hope it sends the message that we actually listen to people and not to big business and insurance."
Maxwell said he expects the issue to face substantial opposition in the Senate, but said he thinks it has enough momentum to keep moving.
On the House floor, Rep. Ron Auer, D-St. Louis, was the most vocal opponent to the managed care regulation bill. Auer, who works for the managed care provider Group Health Plan, voted against the bill. But he said he agrees with portions of the regulation package.
He said he supports the part that bans "gag rules" - when managed care companies restrict what physicians can tell patients regarding medical treatment options. However, Auer said he disagrees with an amendment that would require HMOs to offer consumers a "point of service" option. That means patients would pay a higher premium so they could go directly to specialists without the approval of a primary care physician.
"I think we went farther than what other states are doing," Auer said.
In addition, Auer earlier this week sponsored the amendment, rejected by the House, that would have continued the legal protection for managed care firms that restricts lawsuits by policy holders.