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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Tony DeLuca |
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House passes DeLuca health-care bills
HARRISBURG, April 1 – Two bills introduced by state Rep. Tony DeLuca, D-Allegheny, addressing health care and insurance issues in Pennsylvania passed the House today.
House Bill 2098 would allow insurance companies to refuse payment to hospitals for the cost of medical infections and errors that occur at their facilities. DeLuca, chairman of the House Insurance Committee, said Medicare has already discontinued reimbursement to hospitals for the cost of medical-related infections and mistakes.
"This bill is designed to make
hospitals take the necessary steps to cut down on patient infections and
medical errors because they won’t have the insurance companies to cover the
cost anymore,"
DeLuca said.
The second measure, H.B. 2005, would establish fair rules for setting the insurance rates offered to small businesses rather than relying on insurance companies to determine fair pricing.
"My legislation would reduce group rate volatility and ensure that small employers could offer their employees insurance coverage without paying outrageous premium costs," DeLuca said.
DeLuca's legislation would establish a standard small-group coverage plan. All small-group plans offered by insurance companies would have to meet the minimum coverage levels in the standard plan. In addition, the bill would give the state prior approval over all small group rates and rate increase requests as is currently the case with auto insurance and homeowners' insurance. The measure would also prohibit medical underwriting for small group insurers.
The state Insurance Department would be able to reject rate filings based on the following:
- The increase is requested because the insurer has not operated efficiently.
- The increase is requested because the insurer has incurred costs due to a failure to follow best practices for cost control, including costs associated with avoidable hospitalization due to ineffective chronic care management.
DeLuca's bills now go to the Senate for consideration.
"The working families of Pennsylvania don't have the time or the luxury to wait years for better insurance protection so I urge the state Senate to take swift action and pass both bills," DeLuca said.
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