Indiana House Republicans propose fines for hospitals with high fees

[Greenbeard]

I'm a few weeks behind on this, but the fascinating saga of Indiana legislative Republicans vs. their state's hospitals continues.

Over a year ago, the leaders of Indiana's House and Senate (both Republicans) wrote to the state's hospitals asking them to outline a plan to reduce hospital prices in Indiana to the national average by 2025. The letter included a not-very-veiled threat: "Absent a viable plan, we will be left with no choice but to pursue legislation to statutorily reduce prices." The responses they got were underwhelming. That's all chronicled in a thread from a year ago:

Indiana Republicans to Regulate Hospital Prices?

There was a WSJ op-ed out yesterday with a juicy tidbit out of Indiana I had completely missed when it happened last month. After laying out the problem (hospital prices in Indiana are high), the authors mention a seismic development: Indiana's legislative leaders have stepped in to threaten...

debatepolitics.com

The news this year is that Indiana Republicans may be making good on their threat:

Indiana House Republicans propose fines for hospitals with high fees

Upset with what they say is the excessive cost of health care in Indiana, House Republicans want to levy fines against hospitals that charge more than 260% of what Medicare reimburses for services.

House Bill 1004 would impose fines for excessive prices that could equal 10% of a hospital’s patient revenue.

The bill was introduced Thursday by Rep. Donna Schaibley (R-Carmel) and Rep. Matt Lehman (R-Berne). It was referred to the House Committee on Public Health, of which Schaibley is the vice chair.

“If you’re above a certain price that there would be penalties,” said House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers). “You know again, we’re a low-cost state in almost every way. In this area we are out of line.”

The latest news seems to be that negotiation is ongoing: Lawmakers, hospitals in talks on legislation to lower hospital prices

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. − Gloria Sachdev is confident the way hospital pricing has worked in Indiana is going to change this year.

"There will be something," said Sachdev, the president, CEO and board chairman of Employers’ Forum of Indiana of General Assembly action this year to bring hospital pricing in line with the rest of the nation.

"Legislative discussions are happening now on HB1004," said Laura McCaffrey, vice president of public affairs and communications for the Indiana Hospital Association. A statement is expected in coming days concerning an outcome of the talks.

For the most part, even deep blue states haven't gotten this aggressive about going after hospitals for high prices, so this continues to be an eyebrow-raising spectacle.

 

[Roadvirus]

For the most part, even deep blue states haven't gotten this aggressive about going after hospitals for high prices, so this continues to be an eyebrow-raising spectacle.

The GOP doesn't get as much from the hospital lobby as Dems.

Hospitals & Nursing Homes Summary

Opensecret's money profile for the Hospitals & Nursing Homes industry/interest group. See contributions and lobbying history.

www.opensecrets.org

 

[reflechissez]

The GOP doesn't get as much from the hospital lobby as Dems.

Hospitals & Nursing Homes Summary

Opensecret's money profile for the Hospitals & Nursing Homes industry/interest group. See contributions and lobbying history.

www.opensecrets.org

Your point?

 

[mrjurrs]

I'm a few weeks behind on this, but the fascinating saga of Indiana legislative Republicans vs. their state's hospitals continues.

Over a year ago, the leaders of Indiana's House and Senate (both Republicans) wrote to the state's hospitals asking them to outline a plan to reduce hospital prices in Indiana to the national average by 2025. The letter included a not-very-veiled threat: "Absent a viable plan, we will be left with no choice but to pursue legislation to statutorily reduce prices." The responses they got were underwhelming. That's all chronicled in a thread from a year ago:

Indiana Republicans to Regulate Hospital Prices?

There was a WSJ op-ed out yesterday with a juicy tidbit out of Indiana I had completely missed when it happened last month. After laying out the problem (hospital prices in Indiana are high), the authors mention a seismic development: Indiana's legislative leaders have stepped in to threaten...

debatepolitics.com

The news this year is that Indiana Republicans may be making good on their threat:

Indiana House Republicans propose fines for hospitals with high fees



The latest news seems to be that negotiation is ongoing: Lawmakers, hospitals in talks on legislation to lower hospital prices



For the most part, even deep blue states haven't gotten this aggressive about going after hospitals for high prices, so this continues to be an eyebrow-raising spectacle.

I don't think you are reading it right. Indiana is a state that didn't even expand medicaid to the extent they were allowed to.

 

[Greenbeard]

The GOP doesn't get as much from the hospital lobby as Dems.

Hospitals & Nursing Homes Summary

Opensecret's money profile for the Hospitals & Nursing Homes industry/interest group. See contributions and lobbying history.

www.opensecrets.org

Those are federal contributions.

 

[aociswundumho]

For the most part, even deep blue states haven't gotten this aggressive about going after hospitals for high prices, so this continues to be an eyebrow-raising spectacle.

Price controls result in the same thing every time they are imposed. The only thing "eyebrow-raising" is how many people believe prices can be controlled by legislative fiat.

 

[Jason Warfield]

Huh.

And the GOP thinks I'm a socialist for wanting affordable healthcare?

 

[Greenbeard]

Price controls result in the same thing every time they are imposed. The only thing "eyebrow-raising" is how many people believe prices can be controlled by legislative fiat.

Fascinating to see Republicans embracing price regulation. And self-described libertarians!

No need to wonder why, just look at how much money one can save:

The American people are being ass-raped by US hospitals, while idiot progressives blame insurance companies.

We seem to be entering uncharted political territory.

 

[aociswundumho]

Fascinating to see Republicans embracing price regulation.

Not really. Nixon did it, and that was 50 years ago.

Nixon shock - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And self-described libertarians!

Pointing out that other countries are much, much cheaper than the US is not an endorsement of price controls.

We seem to be entering uncharted political territory.

No, this is the same dumb shit that has been done over and over again and will produce the same bad results. Price controls aren't going to solve the problem. For example, thanks to the progressive regulatory state, housing is extremely expensive. Do you support price controls on housing? If no, why not? Why do you believe price controls will work for healthcare but not housing?

 

[Greenbeard]

Pointing out that other countries are much, much cheaper than the US is not an endorsement of price controls.

Admiring hospital prices of countries that regulate hospital prices is admiration of regulated hospital prices. Indiana Republicans have replicated your discovery that hospital price regulation can produce lower hospital prices. Should they proceed with their experiment, whether it succeeds or fails miserably will depend on whether your frequent claim that "real" prices are much lower than current, artificially inflated prices is true.

 

[aociswundumho]

Admiring hospital prices of countries that regulate hospital prices is admiration of regulated hospital prices. Indiana Republicans have replicated your discovery that hospital price regulation can produce lower hospital prices. Should they proceed with their experiment, whether it succeeds or fails miserably will depend on whether your frequent claim that "real" prices are much lower than current, artificially inflated prices is true.

Do you really have any doubt that it's true? There are literally millions of foreign doctors, nurses, and specialists in the world that would be willing to come to America and drive down the cost of healthcare. The real price of healthcare is when everyone who wants to compete is allowed to compete.

 

[rahl]

Do you really have any doubt that it's true? There are literally millions of foreign doctors, nurses, and specialists in the world that would be willing to come to America and drive down the cost of healthcare. The real price of healthcare is when everyone who wants to compete is allowed to compete.

Healthcare doesn't function as a free market, so competition is irrelevant as it's not possible. You can't shop around for the best price, like you can a microwave.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Healthcare doesn't function as a free market, so competition is irrelevant as it's not possible. You can't shop around for the best price, like you can a microwave.

that’s not strictly true.

You can’t shop for emergency or highly specialized types of care. There’s types of care you can shop for. I had to have dental work done recently and live in Southern California and I had the work done in Mexico because the full price was cheaper then my deductible for insurance in America

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Not really. Nixon did it, and that was 50 years ago.

Nixon shock - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Pointing out that other countries are much, much cheaper than the US is not an endorsement of price controls.



No, this is the same dumb shit that has been done over and over again and will produce the same bad results. Price controls aren't going to solve the problem. For example, thanks to the progressive regulatory state, housing is extremely expensive. Do you support price controls on housing? If no, why not? Why do you believe price controls will work for healthcare but not housing?

Housing is really expensive because tax policy allows people to buy houses they aren’t living in with very low interest rates and sit on them, and because there is no effort to reduce immigration.

 

[aociswundumho]

Housing is really expensive because tax policy allows people to buy houses they aren’t living in with very low interest rates and sit on them,

No, housing is expensive because local governments restrict the supply of housing on top of adding endless idiotic regulations:

Regulatory Costs Add a Whopping $93,870 to New Home Prices

Regulations imposed by all levels of government account for $93,870, or 23.8% of the current average sales price ($397,300) of a new single-family home, according to a new study by NAHB.

www.nahb.org

UW study: Rules add $200,000 to Seattle house price

The skyrocketing of home prices from 1989 to 2006 was largely because of laws intended to preserve the area's character, analysis finds.

www.seattletimes.com

and because there is no effort to reduce immigration.

The US had huge waves of immigration and housing stayed relatively cheap simply because the supply of housing was allowed to expand naturally.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

No, housing is expensive because local governments restrict the supply of housing on top of adding endless idiotic regulations:

Regulatory Costs Add a Whopping $93,870 to New Home Prices

Regulations imposed by all levels of government account for $93,870, or 23.8% of the current average sales price ($397,300) of a new single-family home, according to a new study by NAHB.

www.nahb.org

UW study: Rules add $200,000 to Seattle house price

The skyrocketing of home prices from 1989 to 2006 was largely because of laws intended to preserve the area's character, analysis finds.

www.seattletimes.com

The US had huge waves of immigration and housing stayed relatively cheap simply because the supply of housing was allowed to expand naturally.

No, housing was unaffordable For many Americans over a century ago. Then a very common sense law was passed in 1926 that severely limited immigration. In addition, we had a tax code that severely punished the very wealthy.