Thursday, the full House of Representatives
passed the Blue Cross Blue Shield reform legislation, Senate Bills 61
and 62,
without the controversial abortion language that resulted in Governor Snyder’s
veto of the measures last session.
The legislation essentially mirrors the
package from last year and proposes to change the Blues into a nonprofit mutual
company and treat it largely like any other insurer in the market. The company
would lose its tax exempt status, PA 350 would be repealed, and Blue Cross
would no longer have involvement from the Attorney General in rate increase
requests. Further, the proposal calls for the Blues to pay $1.5 billion over 18
years into an independent nonprofit working towards the overall improvement of
the state’s health.
The 92-18 approval of the measure sends the
bills back to the Senate for concurrence in the House changes.
House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) explained
that an agreement on language regarding the abortion rider had not been
reached; therefore the package moved without the language. Stand-alone bills
have been introduced to require the purchase of the optional rider.