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Senate advances bill to let insured patients seek non-panel care; moves SB34 to third reading
Summary
After hours of floor debate about access, market effects and employer costs, the Utah Senate voted 22–7 on Feb. 7, 2005 to advance second substitute Senate Bill 34—allowing insured patients to 'swing out' to non-panel providers paid at 95% of panel rates and prohibiting balance billing—for a third reading.
The Utah Senate voted 22–7 on Feb. 7, 2005 to advance second substitute Senate Bill 34 to third reading, clearing the way for a later floor vote on a measure that would let insured patients seek care from non-panel providers and require insurers to pay non-panel providers 95% of the panel rate while disallowing balance billing.
Sen. Butters, the bill sponsor, framed the proposal as an access measure, recounting a constituent’s experience that he said showed how panel restrictions can delay diagnosis and care. “When you have the facts, you argue the facts,” Butters told colleagues, “And when you don't, you argue fear and confusion.” He said he pared the bill’s earlier…
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