Health Care Legislation for State Employee Plan Introduced in Michigan House
Last week Michigan Speaker of the House Andy Dillon (D-Redford Township) introduced legislation which, if passed, will consolidate the health benefits of all Michigan’s public employees into a single state health insurance plan. HB No. 5345, which was proposed by Dillon back in July of this year faced strong dissent from parties ranging from the Michigan Education Association to Jennifer Granholm, and is expected to be the subject of similar debate as it makes its way through the legislature.
Entitled “The Michigan Health Benefits Program Act”, the legislation creates a 13-member program board to develop a health benefit plan and determine the total premium cost for each plan to be adopted. The plan will cover all employees of “public employers” which is defined to include the state; any city, village, township, county or other political subdivision; any intergovernmental, metropolitan or local department, school district, and certain community colleges and institutions of higher education.
Any health benefits plan approved by the board may include health and wellness incentives (i.e. reward improvements in health outcomes for individuals with chronic diseases, the increased utilization of appropriate preventive health services, or reductions in medical errors), and may also provide financial incentives for the increased use of health information technology.
The full plan is available here. To date, the bill has been introduced in the House and referred to the Committee on Public Employee Health Care Reform. The Health Care Lawyer Blog will continue to monitor developments.
