POLITICS

Health care costs - Still a troubling issue for NH businesses

Last year, the New Hampshire Legislature passed Senate Bill 125. Its goal was to undo some of the harm done to Seacoast businesses by Senate Bill 110, supported and signed into law by previous Gov. Craig Benson. The goal of SB 125 was to increase competition among health care insurers in the state on the assumption that more competition would mean lower insurance costs for both individuals and businesses.

However, that legislation virtually forced insurers to raise their rates for Seacoast and North Country businesses and allowed new insurers to "cherry pick" the most profitable markets, leaving others to make up that difference.

Thankfully, lawmakers decided the previsions of SB 110 hurt more than helped and overturned the most odious sections of that bill by passing SB 125. While many small Seacoast businesses are now breathing a sigh of relief, it should be remembered the problems that both bills tried to address have not disappeared. Health care insurance rates are continuing to spiral out of control, forcing small businesses to either stop giving health coverage benefits to their employees or to continue to do so at the risk of their bottom lines.

In an effort to find real, long-term solutions, the Business & Industries Association of New Hampshire has established the NH Business Coalition to Control Healthcare Costs. That coalition is actively backing House Bill 1555, which would establish a legislative commission to investigate what is driving the cost of health care premiums in this state. The drivers being investigated are cost-shifting from the federal to state governments; medical malpractice insurance; regional cost issues; and hospital costs associated with new construction, new services and overhead. HB 1555 was passed unanimously by the House Commerce Committee recently.

The coalition is also engaged in supporting transparency in health care cost and quality information; Medicaid reform and fair funding of this system at the federal and state level; efforts to reduce the cost of malpractice lawsuits; and increased competition and plan choice among health insurance providers.

Gov. John Lynch, who ran on a platform that included the repeal of SB 110, is also aware of the impacts of rising insurance costs on small businesses and individuals. He has come up with a coalition of his own that will investigate the feasibility of cost reductions that can come from four areas of the health care system: the monitoring of the cost and quality of care; computerizing medical records; making the information on cost and quality of care easily available to businesses and individuals; continuing the effort to get more children covered; and giving more options for taking part in the Home and Community Based Care (HCBC) program.

While there are several bills moving through the Legislature to address specific parts of the health care equation, it is clear that many of the issues driving health care costs for small businesses can't be addressed in this state alone or by New Hampshire-initiated legislation. The problems with health care are systemic and only a drastic change in the system will provide a permanent solution at a reasonable cost for the state's small businesses.

Shir Haberman is the managing editor for news at the Portsmouth Herald.