REAL News for REAL People
House Boycott Could Open Door To New Health Insurance Mandates
Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dan Way, who Print Columnist for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.
A bipartisan House boycott of a committee vote on a bill halting new mandates on health insurance policies puzzled senators, left the House Republican co-chairman flustered, and seems to have House Speaker Thom Tillis' fingerprints all over it.
"I wasn't in on the orchestration, whatever that was, so I can only say that members didn't show up today for whatever reason," said state Rep. Jeff Collins, R-Nash, co-chairman of the Joint Study Committee on the Affordable Care Act and Implementation Issues.
The study committee's meetings were canceled twice Tuesday and once Wednesday for lack of a quorum. Senate members of the panel were at all three sessions.
Asked if Tillis was behind the rare boycott, Collins said he didn't have an answer.
"I wasn't one who was absent, and if anybody's been contacting people to make them absent I wasn't a part of that, and so therefore I can't comment," Collins said.
State Sen. David Curtis, R-Lincoln, another co-chairman of the study committee, expressed surprise and betrayal over the AWOL House members.
"We thought when the House chairs agreed to this meeting and this agenda, we could take it to the bank. It turned out not to be the case," Curtis said.
Wednesday was the last day reports and proposed legislation could be introduced by study committees to the current session. The House boycott appears designed to thwart the health care mandate report and draft bill from reaching a vote this year.
"I was not aware, I was not told this was going to happen," Curtis said. "It was disappointing. I'll leave it at that."
He said the Senate Insurance Committee "will look at what we've done and decide whether to incorporate anything" from the study committee report into the bills before it.
State Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, also a co-chairman of the study committee, seemed puzzled that House members might use pending legislation as a justification to boycott the committee's bill because the moratorium on new mandates would not affect any measures passed in the short session. The 18-month moratorium would take effect Jan. 1, 2015.
With so many market fluctuations due to Obamacare, Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance dynamics, Hartsell said, the moratorium was intended to give the North Carolina insurance market a chance to settle, and contain costs that are rising faster than the rate of inflation.
Hartsell also noted the oddity of the House members refusing to vote on the committee's own consensus-approved report and draft bill. He said the moratorium was "identical to a moratorium that was actually enacted by the General Assembly about 10 to 12 years ago."
The irony of the House members pulling a disappearing act without giving its Senate counterparts a heads-up was not lost on Hartsell.
"That's what the whole bill's about, transparency," he said.
"I think [Tillis] and the House generally did not want to see the legislature's hands tied for several years," said Lorrie Unumb of Lexington, S.C. She is vice president, state government affairs, at Autism Speaks, a New York-based advocacy organization.
"I think he [Tillis] is interested in seeing that he finishes the job that the House began last May," Unumb said, acknowledging Tillis had a role in the unusual events this week.
The House passed House Bill 498 last year, requiring insurance companies to provide treatment for autism disorders. It has been idle in the Senate Insurance Committee since last May.
"The speaker has been a big supporter throughout. I can't speak for him, I can't put words in his mouth, but he's shown a great level of commitment that the autism community is really appreciative for," Unumb said.
Tillis did not respond to a request for comment on this story. He wore an Autism Speaks pin on his lapel in a campaign commercial for his U.S. Senate race against incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan.
Unumb is attempting to shepherd H.B. 498 through the Senate in the short session that opened Wednesday. It is one of 10 health care mandates the legislature is considering, many of which are sponsored by Republicans.
If all passed, North Carolina would be in the Top 10 nationally for states with the most insurance mandates. It already has 55. Insurance companies and business groups say piling more mandates on them may cause layoffs, reduced employee hours, canceled hiring, and elimination of employer-provided insurance.
If House and Senate leadership want the short session to be productive, they are "going to need full cooperation between the chambers, and this isn't a particularly good way to get it started," said Andy Taylor, professor of political science in the School of Public and International Affairs at N.C. State University.
The death-by-absence inflicted on the committee report "might also speak to the heightened sensitivity that the House leadership has to how this short session will play to a broader audience," Taylor said.
"Obviously, the speaker is the Republican candidate to the U.S. Senate, and that campaign is going to be in full swing here, and things that happen in the General Assembly are going to be fuel for that campaign," Taylor said. "The speaker is going to try to choreograph things as much as he possibly can, I suspect, to help his Senate campaign."
Collins, one of a handful of representatives who voted against the autism bill in the House last year, said the Tillis-backed legislation was the likely fly in the ointment that ignited the last-minute surprise.
Collins thought a compromise had been reached by delaying from 2014 to 2015 the moratorium draft bill, "thus giving those folks the opportunity to lobby the Senate ... but apparently that wasn't good enough for somebody."
Unumb said there were "opportunities over the last couple of days for us to kind of carve out a special niche" in the moratorium for the autism community, but they declined because "we didn't want to pit ourselves against any other group that may need some help as well."
Collins said the report and draft legislation that the study committee already had agreed to was a conservative measure steeped in small-government principles, which include GOP opposition to Obamacare mandates.
"I don't like it when the federal government pushes its idea of a plan on us, I don't like it when the state pushes its idea of a good plan on the private market," he said. "I think that should be an issue between insurers and the people they cover as to what they want covered."
Special interests all have legitimate issues, he said, but continually adding mandates drives up costs for insurers and policyholders.
Asked about the bipartisan absence of House members, putting Republicans in the same camp as Democrats against a conservative cause, Collins said, "Yes, to me it's an embarrassment to conservatives whenever we are mandating things on the private market."
State Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, was the House point man in overtures for last-minute horse-trading with Senate study committee members. Hager did not respond to a request for comment.
Last year Hager complained about "not-so-conservatives" in his own party when House Bill 298, legislation he sponsored phasing out renewable energy mandates on utility companies, failed to pass in the Public Utilities and Energy Committee he chairs.
Go Back
A bipartisan House boycott of a committee vote on a bill halting new mandates on health insurance policies puzzled senators, left the House Republican co-chairman flustered, and seems to have House Speaker Thom Tillis' fingerprints all over it.
"I wasn't in on the orchestration, whatever that was, so I can only say that members didn't show up today for whatever reason," said state Rep. Jeff Collins, R-Nash, co-chairman of the Joint Study Committee on the Affordable Care Act and Implementation Issues.
The study committee's meetings were canceled twice Tuesday and once Wednesday for lack of a quorum. Senate members of the panel were at all three sessions.
Asked if Tillis was behind the rare boycott, Collins said he didn't have an answer.
"I wasn't one who was absent, and if anybody's been contacting people to make them absent I wasn't a part of that, and so therefore I can't comment," Collins said.
State Sen. David Curtis, R-Lincoln, another co-chairman of the study committee, expressed surprise and betrayal over the AWOL House members.
"We thought when the House chairs agreed to this meeting and this agenda, we could take it to the bank. It turned out not to be the case," Curtis said.
Wednesday was the last day reports and proposed legislation could be introduced by study committees to the current session. The House boycott appears designed to thwart the health care mandate report and draft bill from reaching a vote this year.
"I was not aware, I was not told this was going to happen," Curtis said. "It was disappointing. I'll leave it at that."
He said the Senate Insurance Committee "will look at what we've done and decide whether to incorporate anything" from the study committee report into the bills before it.
State Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, also a co-chairman of the study committee, seemed puzzled that House members might use pending legislation as a justification to boycott the committee's bill because the moratorium on new mandates would not affect any measures passed in the short session. The 18-month moratorium would take effect Jan. 1, 2015.
With so many market fluctuations due to Obamacare, Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance dynamics, Hartsell said, the moratorium was intended to give the North Carolina insurance market a chance to settle, and contain costs that are rising faster than the rate of inflation.
Hartsell also noted the oddity of the House members refusing to vote on the committee's own consensus-approved report and draft bill. He said the moratorium was "identical to a moratorium that was actually enacted by the General Assembly about 10 to 12 years ago."
The irony of the House members pulling a disappearing act without giving its Senate counterparts a heads-up was not lost on Hartsell.
"That's what the whole bill's about, transparency," he said.
"I think [Tillis] and the House generally did not want to see the legislature's hands tied for several years," said Lorrie Unumb of Lexington, S.C. She is vice president, state government affairs, at Autism Speaks, a New York-based advocacy organization.
"I think he [Tillis] is interested in seeing that he finishes the job that the House began last May," Unumb said, acknowledging Tillis had a role in the unusual events this week.
The House passed House Bill 498 last year, requiring insurance companies to provide treatment for autism disorders. It has been idle in the Senate Insurance Committee since last May.
"The speaker has been a big supporter throughout. I can't speak for him, I can't put words in his mouth, but he's shown a great level of commitment that the autism community is really appreciative for," Unumb said.
Tillis did not respond to a request for comment on this story. He wore an Autism Speaks pin on his lapel in a campaign commercial for his U.S. Senate race against incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan.
Unumb is attempting to shepherd H.B. 498 through the Senate in the short session that opened Wednesday. It is one of 10 health care mandates the legislature is considering, many of which are sponsored by Republicans.
If all passed, North Carolina would be in the Top 10 nationally for states with the most insurance mandates. It already has 55. Insurance companies and business groups say piling more mandates on them may cause layoffs, reduced employee hours, canceled hiring, and elimination of employer-provided insurance.
If House and Senate leadership want the short session to be productive, they are "going to need full cooperation between the chambers, and this isn't a particularly good way to get it started," said Andy Taylor, professor of political science in the School of Public and International Affairs at N.C. State University.
The death-by-absence inflicted on the committee report "might also speak to the heightened sensitivity that the House leadership has to how this short session will play to a broader audience," Taylor said.
"Obviously, the speaker is the Republican candidate to the U.S. Senate, and that campaign is going to be in full swing here, and things that happen in the General Assembly are going to be fuel for that campaign," Taylor said. "The speaker is going to try to choreograph things as much as he possibly can, I suspect, to help his Senate campaign."
Collins, one of a handful of representatives who voted against the autism bill in the House last year, said the Tillis-backed legislation was the likely fly in the ointment that ignited the last-minute surprise.
Collins thought a compromise had been reached by delaying from 2014 to 2015 the moratorium draft bill, "thus giving those folks the opportunity to lobby the Senate ... but apparently that wasn't good enough for somebody."
Unumb said there were "opportunities over the last couple of days for us to kind of carve out a special niche" in the moratorium for the autism community, but they declined because "we didn't want to pit ourselves against any other group that may need some help as well."
Collins said the report and draft legislation that the study committee already had agreed to was a conservative measure steeped in small-government principles, which include GOP opposition to Obamacare mandates.
"I don't like it when the federal government pushes its idea of a plan on us, I don't like it when the state pushes its idea of a good plan on the private market," he said. "I think that should be an issue between insurers and the people they cover as to what they want covered."
Special interests all have legitimate issues, he said, but continually adding mandates drives up costs for insurers and policyholders.
Asked about the bipartisan absence of House members, putting Republicans in the same camp as Democrats against a conservative cause, Collins said, "Yes, to me it's an embarrassment to conservatives whenever we are mandating things on the private market."
State Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, was the House point man in overtures for last-minute horse-trading with Senate study committee members. Hager did not respond to a request for comment.
Last year Hager complained about "not-so-conservatives" in his own party when House Bill 298, legislation he sponsored phasing out renewable energy mandates on utility companies, failed to pass in the Public Utilities and Energy Committee he chairs.
| A Scarborough Potpourri: Volume I | Statewide, Government, Op-Ed & Politics, State and Federal | Governor McCrory Mourns the Loss of Keith Crisco |
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