Health proposal advances in Senate
A Louisiana Senate committee defied the Jindal administration and advanced legislation Wednesday to organize an exchange to help facilitate the purchase and sale of health-care insurance under the new federal law.
The Senate Insurance Committee voted to 6-2 to send Senate Bill 744 to the Senate floor for debate.
The panel “just voted to make a very risky move,” said Bruce Greenstein, secretary of the state Department of Health and Hospitals, after the vote.
Louisiana is one of a handful of states that has refused to set up a health insurance exchange.
The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires states to either join a federal exchange, a website where people without health insurance could go to find and compare policies, or set up one on its own.
Greenstein said the Jindal administration opposed the legislation because the exchange would set up a new government bureaucracy that ultimately would be funded with state taxpayer dollars or increased premiums.
“This is an attempt to be prepared,” countered state Sen. Karen Peterson, D-New Orleans. “This instrument gives people in Louisiana the opportunity to access affordable health care.”
for more... http://theadvocate.com/news/2668033-123/health-proposal-advances-in-senate
No comments:
Post a Comment