June 4th, 2009

Two state representatives have recently introduced healthcare-related bills.

Rep. Bernie O’Neill (R-Bucks), has a special-needs adult sister who lives with him.  After she broke her ankle at a park and needed an ambulance ride to the hospital, Rep. O’Neill was the one to receive the reimbursement check for the ride from his insurance company.

The incident was part of his inspiration to introduce HB 867, would allow ambulance services to receive reimbursements directly from insurance companies.   The bill was approved by the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee last week, and now heads to the full chamber for a vote.

Many ambulance services are struggling financially, because when patients receive the reimbursement checks, they either don’t know how to pay the ambulance services, or they don’t know how to.  The bill aims to enable ambulance companies to recoup more for the services they provide.

Reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

“I don’t see a huge financial burden being placed on the insurance companies,” O’Neill said. “They’re just changing the typing on a check and an envelope.”

…

His bill would allow patients to sign paperwork that would instruct their insurance companies to send reimbursement for the ride directly to the ambulance service.

Michael Weinstein, a spokesman for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, said the insurance provider opposes the bill because it does not make direct payments to providers outside its network. Highmark encourages ambulance providers to sign a contract with the company, he said.

Don DeReamus, legislative chair for the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania, said a bill like O’Neill’s has never made it to a vote in the House or Senate.

“We’ve been fighting this battle for a good six to eight years in the Legislature. … We’re fighting money,” he said.

Read more on Rep. O’Neill’s bill at the Tribune-Review and at his website.

A bill introduced by Rep. Kate Harper (R-Montgomery) would compel the Dept. of Public Welfare to develop an action plan to strengthen the program that provides housing and community services for intellectually and developmentally disabled young adults.  The DPW would have to eliminate emergency and critical segments of the waiting list by 2012.

Reports the Times-Herald:

“The reason for the bill is this: after a generation of individuals with disabilities being raised at home with education opportunities and good medical care, there are many families facing the painful issue of where the disabled child, now an adult, will live when mom and dad are elderly and facing health issues and are unable to care for them,” Harper said.

This “Bill of Rights” aims to recognize the challenges people with intellectual and developmental disabilities face daily, including discrimination, lack of public awareness and lack of access to support services.

The action plan in the legislation also calls for inclusion of statistical information on current and projected increases in the waiting list on a county basis, as well as financial information on the amount of additional federal, state and other funds needed to provide services necessary to eliminate the waiting list.

There are 20,924 individuals on the waiting list for services in Pennsylvania. Of that, more than 4,500 are on the emergency waiting list, more than 9,600 on the critical list and more than 6,700 on the planning list.

Read more on the bill at the Times-Herald, and at Rep. Harper’s website.