Senator Ward E-News
Legislation I sponsored to enact common sense limits on taxpayer-funded transportation for methadone clients has received final legislative approval and was signed into law.
Currently, under the Medical Assistance Transportation Program, methadone recipients choose their preferred service location -- and the cost of the transportation is paid for with taxpayer dollars. The transportation costs to transport methadone clients totaled $32.5 million in 2009-10, an increase of 26.3 percent from 2007-08. More than one in three trips paid for through the Medicaid Transportation program has been for methadone maintenance.
Senate Bill 638 will require that such individuals receive treatment at
the clinic closest to their residence if they are using para-transit services by
taxi or bus, or being reimbursed mileage for using their own vehicles. According
to the Department of Public Welfare, this legislation is expected to produce
millions of dollars in savings. Although the savings are substantial, SB638 is
just one step in what must be an ongoing, comprehensive effort to find and cut
unnecessary spending.
Watch
The allegations regarding child abuse at Penn State shake every decent person to the core.
The committee I chair, the Senate Aging and Youth Committee, has been examining, through public hearings, Pennsylvania's definition of child abuse and mandated reporting of child abuse. We were in the process of legislatively addressing these issues when the Penn State allegations exploded into the headlines. As a result, the Senate and the House of Representatives recently approved a measure I sponsored creating the Task Force on Child Protection to conduct a sweeping review of Pennsylvania laws and procedures governing child protection and the reporting of child abuse.
Senate Resolution 250 authorizes the creation of an 11-member task force that will include members experienced in issues relating to child abuse or in providing services to victims of child abuse. The panel's final report will include recommendations:
The task force will be appointed by mid-January and will
issue a final report by November 30, 2012.
Watch
This morning, December 22, Highmark and UPMC agreed to extend the existing contract between the two of them for an additional year. This means that Highmark customers will be able to continue accessing UPMC facilities and physicians at in-network rates until at least 2013.
If the contract hadn't been extended, about 2,700 doctors in the UPMC system would have been considered "out-of-network" for about 3 million Highmark subscribers in western Pennsylvania as of this coming summer. Hopefully this positive step will provide the time needed to work out a long-term solution that will benefit patients.
The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee approved legislation, Senate Bill 1358, which would amend state law to give the State Insurance Commissioner greater authority to extend the terms of the existing contract between Highmark and UPMC, thereby providing additional time to allow for adjustments to the health care marketplace in western Pennsylvania.
I serve as vice-chair of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee which held three public hearings this fall to review the dispute and explore the need for this legislation. We heard from the CEOs of both Highmark and UPMC, consumers, physicians, advocacy groups and others, and it became clear that legislative action would be necessary to protect consumers if the two sides could not reach agreement.
Apparently, by the decision made by Highmark and UPMC this morning to extend the contract another year, the possibility of a legislative fix, along with the governor's involvement, was enough to at least bring UPMC back to the table.
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