Christopher Wink

I continue to cover health reform here in the State Capitol for Capitol Wire, a service for which you don’t have a subscription, so I can only give you a taste.

HARRISBURG (June 19) – The estimated cost of the House-passed health care reform package could be highly inaccurate, testified one witness hired by the Senate GOP at the Senate Banking and Insurance committee hearing Wednesday.

“The rules aren’t the same as in other industries,” said Jack Burke, a principal and consulting actuary from Millman Inc., a consulting firm in Wayne retained by Senate Republicans to review cost estimates attributed to the health care plan.

His firm reviewed “Cover all Pennsylvanians,” an earlier proposal that has since been replaced by the Rendell-endorsed Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care plan, a package of health care reforms that would provide state-subsidized health insurance to nearly 273,000 uninsured residents at an estimated cost of $1.1 billion by the fifth year.

The pitfalls of any state-subsidized health care plan are possibilities, Burke said. If a younger, healthier pool of participants isn’t engaged, or mandated to purchase insurance, premiums could become costlier than anticipated. Additionally, because so many factors are involved in a program’s complex cost analysis, estimates could be grossly exaggerated, higher or lower, he said.

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Image courtesy of Penn Live, depicted Gov. Ed Rendell and Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario.

Who is covering insurance committee meetings!? I am! This a brief for Capitol Wire, an online-only, subscription service for state government, policy wonks. I won’t post most subscription stuff, but this is just so damn boring, I know it just doesn’t matter. And, fair use law has to include something so short.

By Christopher Wink | Jun 16, 2008 | Capitol Wire

HARRISBURG (June 16) The House Insurance committee passed a flurry of legislation in a meeting Tuesday.

All told, six bills were reported from committee, though only two were the subject of any debate.

Four were passed unanimously, including the following: bills 1824, which would funnel federal funding to community-based health providers; 2490, which would make a refusal to renew an insurance policy based on an adjacent property an unfair practice; 2580, which would require health insurance policies to reimburse services provided by licensed occupational therapists, and 2625, which is a companion to 1824 and would establish a system of assessment for community-based health care providers.

Bills 1122, which would create a health insurance consumer advocate, and 2642, which would limit some rate increases used by insurance providers, passed but received some Republican opposition.

Cartoon courtesy of Allen Brown Insurance Agency.

Before the pressures of writing for legislative-heavy, paid subscription state government, online service Capitol Wire fully got to me, I started yesterday by covering a task force meeting. Brief, but still managed to be frighteningly dull.

Again, it’s a paid subscription, so I won’t be able to post full stories, but get a taste below and then fork up the $1,000 or so to get the insight that I – and men smarter than I am – will provide for an entire year.

A hearing byline for Capitol Wire

A Joint State Government Commission Task Force on Child Safety will release its advisory committee report “as soon as possible,” one member said today.

The task force and its report, which includes 12 recommendations for the General Assembly, came at the behest of a House Resolution from June 2005, requesting ways to curtail preventable child injuries and deaths.

Its recommendations include legislation that would create a post within the Pennsylvania Department of Health to address consumer and constituent concerns with child safety, require annual reports on child safety, and increase staff charged with child safety issues. …

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