The state Senate is considering a bill this week that would restrict government mandates for health insurance plans.
Sen. Jim Burgin, R-Harnett, said forcing insurance plans to cover particular services drives up costs, and he said he's compiled a list of 58 such mandates in current state law.
"Recent studies rank North Carolina 50th out of all 50 states for healthcare costs," Burgin said. "This is unacceptable and it creates significant financial burdens on the constituents of our state."
would require state lawmakers to repeal an existing mandate for every new mandate they add. Proposed new mandates from the legislature would also have to come with funding for the State Health Plan to implement that change for state employees' healthcare coverage.
"This bill seeks to ensure that we are fully aware of any additional costs that any that may ultimately result in higher premiums," Burgin said.
It's already passed two Senate committees without opposition and is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday 鈥� the last step before a Senate floor vote. Republicans in the House have also introduced similar legislation.
The bill has support from groups like the N.C. Chamber and the State Employees Association of North Carolina, although SEANC's executive director Ardis Watkins told a legislative committee that her group would like to see more transparency required around the cost of healthcare procedures.
"I applaud any effort towards fixing things, but the only way to fix things, and maybe you could add it at some point to this bill, is to say public dollars used to pay for public employees' healthcare should be public knowledge," she said.
Sen. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, said he's concerned the bill could result in some people losing coverage for common healthcare needs.
"I don't think that this bill, in and of itself, does anything to lower costs," Everitt said. "It only is activated if there's another mandate down the road. I have concerns that this will lead to eliminating contraceptive coverage or in the State Health Plan, a woman who's raped having access to coverage for an abortion."
