2006 HEALTH LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

Staff Contact: Mark Amodeo

Following is The Business Council's 2006 Legislative Program. It identifies priority issues to be addressed by the Committees and Councils during 2006.

Support initiatives that can reduce health-care costs in New York State:

  • allowing employers to maximize use of Health Savings Accounts created by the federal Medicare Modernization Act, by also allowing them to purchase a consumer-driven health insurance plan. Such an initiative can be found in Freedom Health Plan legislation - which allows for higher deductibles and fewer insurance mandates - sponsored by Senator Seward and Assemblyman Morelle.

  • enacting medical liability and pharmaceutical tort reform.

  • lending support to the work of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, to restructure and rightsize the hospital system in New York to make it more affordable for employers and taxpayers and financially stronger as a whole.

  • restricting the state from off-loading the cost of general health programs onto health insurance premiums.

Support initiatives that improve the delivery of quality health-care:

  • utilizing HEAL NY funding for health information technology initiatives such as, electronic health records, e-prescribing and e-imaging.

  • developing pay for performance programs that reward measurable quality outcomes.

  • designating centers for excellence which recognize that certain providers excel at delivering higher-quality health-care.

Support further Medicaid reform:

  • expediting the implementation of disease state management programs.

  • assisting local governments who desire more information technology tools to examine Medicaid expenditure patterns, which can leading to cost-saving opportunities.

  • allowing waivers from New York's prescriptive requirements, so that they are able to design a more cost-effective model.

  • implementing more aggressive fraud prevention and detection programs.

  • designing a benefit package that more closely reflects the benefits offered by private sector and government employers.

Oppose initiatives that make health insurance more expensive:

  • oppose play or pay proposals that call for steep, punishing new taxes on businesses that can not afford to purchase health insurance for their workers.

  • oppose new health insurance mandates.

  • oppose cost-shifting from the direct pay market to the small group market.

  • oppose off-loading the cost of general health programs onto health insurance premiums.

Click here for the 2006 Legislative Program for all Issue areas.