Senate Bill No. 130
(By Senators Sharpe and Walker)
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[Introduced February 26, 1993; referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections four and five, article
twenty-nine-c, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating
to changing the termination date of the task force on
uncompensated health care and medicaid expenditures; and
deleting obsolete language.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections four and five, article twenty-nine-c, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 29C. INDIGENT CARE.
§16-
29C-
4. Legislative study; appointment of members; expenses;
reports; termination.
Not later than the first day of June, one thousand nine
hundred eighty-five, the president of the Senate and speaker of
the House of Delegates of the West Virginia Legislature shallappoint a legislative task force on uncompensated health care and
medicaid expenditures which shall meet, study and make
recommendations as herein provided.
The task force shall be composed of three members of the
Senate appointed by the president from the membership of the
Senate standing committee on health and human resources, three
members of the House of Delegates appointed by the speaker from
the membership of the House of Delegates standing committee on
health and human resources and a number of citizens appointed
jointly by the president and speaker which, in their discretion,
adequately provides for the appropriate representation of the
interests of the providers of health care services, the providers
of health care insurance, state departments involved in the
administration of health care and health care related programs
and the citizens of this state. Of the members of the Senate
appointed by the president, not more than two shall be from the
same political party. Of the members of the House of Delegates
appointed by the speaker, not more than two shall be from the
same political party.
Members originally appointed to the task force shall serve
for terms beginning on the date of appointment and ending on the
thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six,
unless sooner replaced by the president or the speaker as
applicable, or, in the discretion of the president and the
speaker, unless the work of the task force is completed or the
need for the task force no longer exists prior to that date. Thetask force shall cease to exist on the thirtieth day of June, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-six.
The task force shall meet on such dates as may be approved
by the joint committee on government and finance for the regular
meetings of its subcommittees unless approval is first obtained
from the joint committee on government and finance for additional
meetings. The task force shall conduct studies on the amount of
funds expended by hospitals and other health care providers of
this state for services to persons who are unable to pay for
those services and for which they receive no other form of
reimbursement, the extent to which persons in this state forego
needed medical services because of insufficient income and assets
to pay for those services, the extent to which the state is
maximizing available federal programs and moneys in providing
health care services to the citizens of this state, the operation
of the programs and funds created by this article and the roles
of the public, private and private nonprofit sectors in providing
health care services to the citizens of this state. The task
force shall also study the state medicaid program in order to
determine if the state medicaid agency, as the payor of last
resort, is expending maximum effort to identify alternate private
insurance resources for medicaid beneficiaries and shall study
the feasibility and financial impact upon the state of assuring
increased access to medicaid beneficiaries to primary health care
in the nonhospital setting by requiring enrollment in a primary
care clinic program, if available, and of the establishment ofdifferent and lesser schedules of payment for primary health
services delivered by a hospital emergency room as compared to
the schedule of payments for emergency room services of a true
medical emergency nature.
The task force shall file an interim report with the joint
committee on government and finance and the Legislature on the
date of the last meeting of the joint committee on government and
finance prior to commencement of the regular session of the
Legislature in each year before the final report of the task
force is filed with the joint committee on government and finance
and the Legislature on or before the thirtieth day of June, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-six.
The members of the task force shall be entitled to
compensation at the rate authorized for members of the
Legislature participating in legislative interim meetings and to
reimbursement for reasonable and necessary expenses actually
incurred in attending meetings of the task force, except that any
employee of the state appointed to the task force is not entitled
to such compensation. Funds necessary for the work of the task
force shall be paid from joint appropriations to the Senate and
House of Delegates but no such funds shall be spent or
obligations incurred in the conduct of such work without prior
approval of the joint committee on government and finance.
§16-
29C-
5. Effective date and termination date.
This article shall be effective from passage and,
notwithstanding the provisions of section four of this article,shall terminate on the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-six.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to extend the
termination date of the task force on uncompensated health care
and medicaid expenditures to June 30, 1996.)