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SJM109.....................................................by STATE AFFAIRS
MEDICARE REIMBURSEMENT - Stating findings of the Legislature and requesting
Congress to pass legislation to fully recover the actual costs of providing
necessary health care services to Medicare eligible patients.
03/07 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
03/08 Rpt prt - to 10th Ord
03/09 10th ord - ADOPTED - voice vote
Title apvd - to House
03/10 House intro - 1st rdg - to Health/Wel
03/23 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/24 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
04/03 3rd rdg - ADOPTED - voice vote - to Senate
04/04 To enrol - rpt enrol - Pres signed
04/05 Sp signed
04/06 To Secretary of State
SJM109
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-fifth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2000
IN THE SENATE
SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 109
BY STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
1 A JOINT MEMORIAL
2 TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
3 OF THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, THE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION
4 REPRESENTING THE STATE OF IDAHO IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, EACH
5 STATE LEGISLATURE AND THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES.
6 We, your Memorialists, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
7 State of Idaho assembled in the Second Regular Session of the Fifty-fifth
8 Idaho Legislature, do hereby respectfully represent that:
9 WHEREAS, alarming increases in the costs of health care and health insur-
10 ance have caused a health care crisis of epidemic proportions;
11 WHEREAS, the Idaho Health Insurance Premiums Task Force was established to
12 identify, explore and address the causes of this crisis; and
13 WHEREAS, in the course of its examination the task force received exten-
14 sive information, data and testimony from consumers, employers, and represen-
15 tatives of the health care industry, including carriers, agents, pharmaceuti-
16 cal manufacturers, pharmacists, hospitals, physicians and other health care
17 providers; and
18 WHEREAS, the task force found that among the factors contributing to
19 inflated health care and insurance costs are an aging population, new and more
20 expensive technologies, advancements in drug therapy and greater reliance upon
21 costly designer pharmaceuticals, as well as increasing consumer demand, utili-
22 zation and expectations with respect to health care services; and
23 WHEREAS, the task force further determined that reimbursements to
24 providers for health care services furnished to patients receiving Medicare
25 are significantly below the actual costs to the provider to furnish these
26 health care services; and
27 WHEREAS, providers are finding it necessary to recoup losses incurred to
28 serve Medicare patients from other sources, including shifting costs to non-
29 Medicare patients, which leads to higher claims expenses to insurers and
30 increased premium rates to the insured; and
31 WHEREAS, some providers are no longer taking Medicare patients because of
32 the providers' inability to recover their costs, thus reducing provider avail-
33 ability and limiting access to health care for many who are most in need of
34 health care services.
35 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the Second Regular Ses-
36 sion of the Fifty-fifth Idaho Legislature, the Senate and the House of Repre-
37 sentatives concurring therein, that federal legislation be enacted to increase
38 Medicare reimbursements to levels allowing providers to fully recover the
39 actual costs of providing necessary health care services to Medicare eligible
40 patients.
41 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of the Idaho Legislature respect-
42 fully suggest that if the President and Congress are sincere in their resolve
43 to find solutions to the health care crisis they should start by funding Medi-
44 care at appropriate levels.
2
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate be, and she is
2 hereby authorized and directed to forward a copy of this memorial to the Pres-
3 ident of the United States, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of
4 the House of Representatives of Congress, to the congressional delegation rep-
5 resenting the state of Idaho in the Congress of the United States, to the
6 President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of
7 each State Legislature, and to the presidential candidates.