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H.C.R. 10

This document includes House Committee Amendments incorporated into the bill on Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 11:00 AM by jeyring. -->              1     

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE PATIENT

             2     
PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND STATE

             3     
HEALTH CARE REFORM

             4     
2013 GENERAL SESSION

             5     
STATE OF UTAH

             6     
Chief Sponsor: Ken Ivory

             7     
Senate Sponsor: J. Stuart Adams

             8     
             9      LONG TITLE
             10      General Description:
             11          This concurrent resolution describes the impacts of the federal Patient Protection and
             12      Affordable Care Act on Utah families, employers, insurers, health care providers, and
             13      the state, and urges actions to ensure the continued success of state-based health care
             14      innovation and reform.
             15      Highlighted Provisions:
             16          This resolution:
             17          .    describes the impacts of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
             18      (ACA) on Utah families, employers, insurers, health care providers, and the state;
             19          .    urges the state's Congressional delegation to continue its efforts to arrest the
             20      devastating impacts of the ACA using all means possible, including repeal of the
             21      act;
             22          .    urges Utah's Congressional delegation to work cooperatively with others to develop
             23      workable alternatives to the ACA;
             24          .    affirms the state's policy that no person in this state should be required to either
             25      sponsor or enroll in health insurance;
             26          .    urges the Legislature's Health Reform Task Force to continue working cooperatively
             27      with the Governor's Office to ensure that ACA implementation rules address the


             28      needs of Utah health care stakeholders;
             29          .    urges all stakeholders in Utah's health care system to continue working
             30      cooperatively to develop state-based health care reforms; and
             31          .    specifies to whom this resolution should be sent.
             32      Special Clauses:
             33          None
             34     
             35      Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
             36          WHEREAS, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its companion
             37      legislation, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, referred to jointly as
             38      "the Affordable Care Act," "the ACA," or "Obamacare," were enacted in March 2010;
             39          WHEREAS, under the ACA, Utah families, employers, manufacturers, and insurers
             40      will pay at least 18 new or increased taxes and fees that over 10 years will transfer $500 billion
             41      from the private sector to the public sector, suppressing economic growth and reducing
             42      employment in the state;
             42a      H. Whereas hundreds of Utah medical device companies will be subject to the ACA's
             42b      excise tax on manufacturers and importers of certain medical devices, without regard for
             42c      company profitability;
             42d          Whereas, the tax will threaten the viability of many firms and have a chilling effect on
             42e      the very innovation needed to drive down health care costs and support economic growth in
             42f      this state; .H
             43          WHEREAS, Utahns will suffer further reductions in employment growth and economic
             44      activity as employers comply with uncompensated regulatory burdens imposed by the ACA;
             45          WHEREAS, Utah families will also pay more for goods and services as employers,
             46      insurers, and medical providers pass along various costs imposed by the ACA;
             47          WHEREAS, health insurance premiums for certain younger, healthier Utahns will more
             48      than double in 2014 as the result of various ACA provisions, including a prohibition on
             49      medical underwriting and restrictions on the use of age-based premiums;
             50          WHEREAS, the cost of insurance for many other Utah families will go up as well in
             51      response to ACA provisions that are known to drive up costs, including prohibitions on
             52      pre-existing condition exclusions, annual benefit limits, and lifetime benefit limits;
             53          WHEREAS, the ACA will penalize Utah employers that have more than 50 employees
             54      if they do not offer health insurance to their employees, even if an employer cannot afford
             55      insurance or chooses instead to compensate employees with higher wages, larger retirement
             56      contributions, or other employee benefits;
             57          WHEREAS, working Utah families will have fewer full-time employment
             58      opportunities as employers replace full-time workers with part-time workers to avoid ACA


             59      penalties;
             60          WHEREAS, some Utah families will be unable to keep their current health insurance
             61      and may have fewer options as employers abandon plans not meeting minimum benefit and
             62      affordability requirements in order to avoid ACA penalties;
             63          WHEREAS, working Utah families will find it even harder to secure employment with
             64      health insurance benefits as premium increases continue unabated in response to both the ACA
             65      and long-term cost drivers not addressed by the ACA;
             66          WHEREAS, many Utahns will face increased premiums as their insurers attempt to
             67      fund $81 million in losses created by the ACA's transfer of individuals from publicly funded
             68      high-risk pools to the private insurance market;
             69          WHEREAS, many Utah families with insurance offered by small or midsize employers
             70      could be threatened with higher premiums or no insurance at all if commercial insurance risk
             71      increases too much as the result of employers dropping coverage or switching to self-insurance
             72      arrangements;
             73           H. [ WHEREAS, Utah families who lose employer-sponsored coverage under the ACA may
             74      find exchange plans unaffordable because federal premium and cost sharing subsidies are based
             75      on 70/30 plans for single, not family, coverage;
] .H

             76          WHEREAS, there is a high likelihood that many Utah families will experience higher
             77      premiums due to the ACA's minimum benefit requirements, which threaten to ratchet up plan
             78      costs both inside and outside health insurance exchanges;
             79          WHEREAS, Utah families will pay higher insurance premiums because of ACA
             80      provisions that subsidize states with high-cost, poorly managed health care plans at the expense
             81      of states like Utah that have low-cost, better managed plans;
             82          WHEREAS, Utah seniors will likely have fewer care options due to Medicare provider
             83      payment reductions made by the ACA;
             84          WHEREAS, Medicaid enrollees will likely have greater difficulty making appointments
             85      with health care providers as Medicaid enrollment expands under the ACA, particularly after
             86      the two-year enhanced reimbursement rate for primary care providers ends;
             87          WHEREAS, Utah hospitals will suffer as a result of ACA reductions in funds paid to
             88      hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of low-income individuals;
             88a      H. Whereas, Utah families will suffer if medical facilities close or medical practitioners
             88b      leave their professions in response to the financial strain created by shrinking provider
             88c      payments under the ACA; .H
             89          WHEREAS, state funding for education, roads, public safety, and other important


             90      services will be crowded by a $46 million annual liability to pay for the ACA's mandatory
             91      Medicaid eligibility expansion;
             92          WHEREAS, we and our children must one day pay the price for entitlements Congress
             93      has created but failed to realistically fund, including the ACA;
             94          WHEREAS, that price already includes tax increases and cost shifting to our posterity,
             95      and will likely include benefit reductions and even currency devaluation;
             96          WHEREAS, that price will tend to include the shifting of greater fiscal responsibility
             97      for government programs--including Medicaid--from Washington to the states, even further
             98      crowding out funding for education and other essential state services;
             99          WHEREAS, the real cost of more Utahns having insurance under the ACA will be a far
             100      greater dependence on government, not less;
             101          WHEREAS, under an optional Medicaid expansion the state would incur large,
             102      ongoing funding liabilities and both the state and its citizens would be more dependent, not less
             103      dependent, on a fiscally unsustainable federal government;
             104          WHEREAS, Utah has refused to exacerbate the federal fiscal crisis by choosing not to
             105      implement the ACA's federally subsidized health insurance exchange, which makes people
             106      dependent on large government subsidies and gives priority to publically funded, rather than
             107      privately funded, coverage;
             108          WHEREAS, because of the ACA, Utah employers, insurers, and health care providers
             109      will face more regulation, not less regulation, and will have fewer options, not more options,
             110      for addressing the underlying challenges faced by our health care system;
             111          WHEREAS, notwithstanding the ACA's focus on preventive care and its
             112      acknowledgment of alternative payment and delivery systems, many Utahns will see little relief
             113      from premium increases driven by underlying problems the ACA fails to address, including
             114      reliance on payment and delivery systems that promote over consumption of health care;
             115          WHEREAS, implementation of the ACA will tend to H. [ completely ] .H destroy the
             115a      private
             116      market for health insurance and move families, insurers, and health care providers ever closer
             117      to a single-payer system of federally controlled health care;
             118          WHEREAS, the state, its citizens, employers, insurers, and health care providers will
             119      all suffer as the ACA fails to bring unsustainable health care spending under control and
             120      metastasises instead into greater federal regulation and control of not just health care, but most


             121      aspects of Utahns' and Americans' daily lives and activities;
             122          WHEREAS, the ACA disregards state jurisdiction over health care policy and
             123      constrains the state's efforts to develop and implement meaningful health care reform; and
             124          WHEREAS, the Legislature and the Governor believe that successful reform of health
             125      care's most vexing problems will require more--not less--state flexibility and innovation:
             126          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
             127      Governor concurring therein, urges the state's Congressional delegation to continue its efforts
             128      to arrest the devastating impacts of the ACA on Utah's economy, its citizens, its employers, its
             129      medical providers, and its insurers, using all means possible, including repeal of the act;
             130          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor urge Utah's
             131      Congressional delegation to work cooperatively with other members of Congress and officials
             132      of this state and other states to develop workable alternatives to the ACA that encourage state
             133      innovation, preserve states' policy-making jurisdiction and regulatory authority, and lead to
             134      greater enrollment in affordable health insurance;
             135          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor affirm by this
             136      resolution the state's policy that no person in this state should be required to either sponsor or
             137      enroll in health insurance, particularly under threat of federal penalty;
             138          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor urge the
             139      Legislature's Health Reform Task Force to continue working cooperatively with the Governor's
             140      Office to ensure that ACA implementation rules address the needs of Utah families, employers,
             141      health care providers, insurers, and insurance regulators;
             142          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor urge all
             143      stakeholders in Utah's health care system--including families, employers, health care providers,
             144      and insurers--to continue working cooperatively with the Governor and the Legislature to
             145      develop state-based health care reforms with the greatest potential for increasing consumerism,
             146      improving quality of care, constraining spending growth, and promoting enrollment in
             147      affordable health insurance, regardless of how ACA implementation unfolds;
             148          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution be sent to the United States
             149      Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Governor, the Legislature's Health Reform Task
             150      Force, Utah's Congressional delegation, the Utah Health Policy Project and other consumer
             151      advocacy groups, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and other employer associations, the


             152      Utah Hospital Association, the Utah Medical Association, Utah insurers, the Utah Association
             153      of Health Underwriters, and the Speakers and Presidents presiding over the legislatures of each
             154      of the 49 other states.




Legislative Review Note
    as of 2-25-13 3:46 PM


Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel


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