The debate on Senate Bill 10, the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act, dominated the twelfth day of the 2007 Legislative Session.  We debated the bill for nearly three hours and considered six amendments before approving it by a vote of 31 to 23.

The Democrats locked down against the bill, apparently out of the political calculation that they must oppose anything bearing even the remotest resemblance to school vouchers, no matter how otherwise worthy the proposal.

When Senator Chip Rogers took the well in support of the bill, he was asked a rambling list of the oddest questions, including his position on the Flat Tax.  Of course, what else could the Democrats talk about when even The Atlanta Journal Constitution supported Senate Bill 10.

The extended session threw my schedule off for the day.  I missed an afternoon telephone conference of the Governor’s Commission for Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Research and Medical Treatment.  This commission was appointed last year by Governor Perdue to advance nondestructive stem cell research.

I plan to introduce legislation in the next couple days to encourage cord blood collection.  The bill, tentatively entitled ”Saving the Cure,” will again be dedicated to Keone Penn, a young Gwinnett County man cured of sickle cell anemia by an umbilical stem cell treatment.

Unlike embryonic stem cells which are currently derived by destroying human embryos, umbilical stem cells are not ethically controversial.  They are collected from donated umbilical cord blood and do not involve harm to the newborn baby or destruction of human life at any stage of development.  They are unlike embryonic stem cells in another way.  Embryonic stem cells, which are difficult to manipulate in the laboratory and tend to mutate into cancers, have yet to be shown to cure anything.

In other health care news, I attended part of the hearing on the Senate Bill 28, the controversial “consumer driven” health care bill sponsored by Senator Judson Hill.  This bill is pending before the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.

Late this afternoon, the Rules Committee voted to favorably report Senate Bill 76.  This bill completes the restoration of the traditional powers of the Lieutenant Governor.  That process began with the adoption of new Senate Rules on the first day of session.  Senate Bill 76 finishes the job by transferring to the Lieutenant Governor all statutory powers of the Senate Committee on Assignments. 

We go into session tomorrow, Day Thirteen, at 10:00 a.m.

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Our regular session began as usual at 10:00 a.m.  We unanimously approved Senate Bill 14 dealing with the Superior Court Clerks Cooperative Authority.  We also approved Senate Resolution 126 setting forth our schedule through Monday, February 12, which will be the eighteenth day. 

I introduced Senate Bill 84 at the request of the Insurance Department.  This bill updates the unfair trade practices section of the Insurance Code to deal with insurance scams aimed at members of the military.

My lunch hour was taken up meeting with lobbyists and constituents. I met with both hospital and insurance lobbyists about Senate Bill 73 dealing with continuity of care.  I visited with groups of architects, homebuilders and school children from my district.  I met with electric lobbyists about the shared use of the utility poles (”pole attachment”).  I met with a lobbyist from a leading beer maker about Sunday sales.  I also worked on legislation that would create a Gwinnett County Stormwater Authority.

My afternoon was packed with committee meetings.  At the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee meeting, we heard a presentation from the Commissioner of Banking.  He outlined the annual departmental “housekeeping” bill updating the Banking Code. 

The Health and Human Services Committee acted on several bills and resolutions, most creating study commissions and task forces.  We favorably reported Senate Bill 57 which would provide for a system of licensing dialysis technicians. 

The Rules Committee voted to place Senate Bill 10 on the calendar for tomorrow, the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act.  The Democrats, self-proclaimed champions of the downtrodden, appear to be gearing up to oppose this bill.  It should be interesting.

I returned calls right before I left the office.  I reached the one constitutent who had contacted me in opposition to Senate Bill 10.  I explained my reasoning for supporting the bill, and I seemed to win him over.

We go into session tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. You can watch our proceedings live tomorrow at the Georgia General Assembly website.

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Today I introduced Senate Bill 73 which makes changes to the “continuity of care” provision of the Insurance Code.  This provision was triggered earlier this year during the very public contract battle between Blue Cross Blue Shield and Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta.  When the insurer and hospital failed to reach an agreement on renewing their contract, Blue Cross enrollees suddenly found themselves without network access to Piedmont Hospital.

In such instances, state law requires physicians, but not hospitals, to continue care at the old contract rate for patients who are pregnant or chronically ill.  Pregnancy is covered for the full term plus six weeks of post delivery care.  Chronic illness is only covered for 60 days.  Even though it was not bound to do so, Piedmont Hospital voluntarily covered both groups, although there was considerable confusion over exactly what qualified as a chronic illness.  State law does not define the term.

Senate Bill 73, the result of extended discussions with the Insurance Department, is an effort to clarify the continuity of care law.  First, the bill would treat physicians and hospitals the same, extending the continuity of care law to all health care facilities.  Second, the bill would allow all enrollees, not just those chronically ill, 60 days of continued care under the old contract, plus an additional 60 days at the discretion of the Insurance Commissioner (presumably in conjunction with additional negotiations).

I am not in complete agreement with every provision of this bill.  I personally think the notice to the enrollee is too short and the discretionary continuation period is too long, but there will be plenty of opportunity to perfect this bill in the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.  Senators Ralph Hudgens and Dan Moody cosponsored the bill with me.

I am normally hesitant for government to inject itself into private contract matters.  But in this case, those covered by managed health care policies in many times chose those policies because of representations by the insurer that certain hospitals or physicians were included in network.  To have those hospitals or physicians disappear from the network without notice does not seem fair to me, especially as most of us covered under employer policies are by federal law only allowed to change our options once a year during “open enrollment.” 

Is Senate Bill 73 an appropriate response to this problem?  Let me know what you think.

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