On Monday, June 8, the Senate Commerce Committee failed to pass out of committee S-20, the grandiosely entitled 'OON Consumer Protection, Transparency, Cost Containment & Accountability Act.'
Realizing that there were was not enough support from committee members to pass it out, it was pulled instead.
The stalling of this bill in committee has raised a firestorm of debate in New Jersey. For six straight days, this piece of legislation was front page news or in op-eds in some of the major newspapers around the state.
"This reaction was unprecedented, extraordinary, and overwhelmingly one-sided. I cannot recall ANY piece of legislation getting this much press for the past several years," said Jeff Shanton, editor of the PULSE, a newsletter for ASC's in New Jersey.
Supporters of the bill vow to work over the summer, and are determined to get this bill passed, with its major components intact. That may be harder to accomplish than they realize.
This bill faced concerted and strong opposition from hospitals, doctors, and mostly all healthcare providers within the state, and they are just as determined, though stating they will work with legislators to try to get a compromise passed.
"The major problem with this bill is that they (legislators) over-reached," said Mr. Shanton.
"Instead of a simple and narrow focused bill on the major issue of 'inadvertent OON,' they came up with this complex monstrosity; S-20.
"The OON issue has been hotly debated in one shape or form for many years in N.J., leaving a wake of stalled bills in its path.
"In S-20, you can see bits and pieces from all of them, and I believe that ultimately contributed to its downfall.
"It is just too complex with major provisions (like an HPI and arbitration) that became points of contention between health care providers, insurers and legislators, and they all dug in their heels," Mr. Shanton noted. "Quite honestly I think a streamlined bill that deals with just the issue of inadvertent OON would not have much of a problem getting passed."
"Something like Senator Paul Sarlo’s S-2906 (which was introduced prior to S-20) for instance. Five pages that deals strictly with the issue at hand, nothing complex, nothing extraneous," offered Shanton.
There also needs to be more involvement from everyone, not just across the aisle (Republicans), but from the Democrats as well.
"This bill was framed by a small group of Democratic legislators, and kept very close to the vest. Part of the reason the bill stalled in committee was that Democratic members of the committee said they did not have enough time or information to make a sound judgment — meaning they were not involved," noted Mr. Shanton.
In the meantime the war of words in the media continues.