LD 1059 and LD 1078 Hearings

These two bills had their public hearings this past Monday. LD 1059 was heard in the legislative committee of Insurance and Financial Services. LD 1078 was heard in the Health and Human Services Committee. After sitting through the hearings of two bills before 1059, our turn came about noon time. I was going to wish the committee a good morning, but ended up with a good afternoon instead. The hearing itself went great. Many speakers from the Direct Care Worker Coalition spoke in favor of the bill. There was no one speaking against it. Where it was so late in being heard, many workers had to leave. Their testimony was submitted to the clerk and Dan Koehler, KVO’s former lead organizer, spoke on their behalf, letting the committee know that they had to leave to get back to work. Superintendent of Insurance Mila Kofman spoke at the end, neither in favor, nor opposed. She wanted the committee to understand that the current way the bill is drafted will not work. The current language of the bill is directing Insurance and Financial Services to set up a pilot project with Medicaid money. First, Insurance and Financial Services does not handle Medicaid money. Second, this is an issue for DHHS. Ms. Kofman informed the Insurance and Financial Services Committee of this. The Committee had questions that Ms. Kofman could not answer. They were questions for DHHS. The DHHS spokesperson, Dianna Scully, from the Office of Elder Services, had left the committee room, by the time Ms. Kofman was speaking. So, no one from DHHS was available to answer questions that Ms. Kofman could not. That was extremely aggravating. Where that hearing ran over, I missed the rally for LD 1078. I did make it into the hearing in order to testify. That went great. Ted Rippy, 771’s secretary, also testified on behalf of this bill. He was fantastic! 771 is lucky to have such a great leader as Ted. He’s another true advocate for this workforce. I noticed DHHS Commissioner Brenda Harvey’s note taker in the crowd in the hearing room. After I testified, I went and told her that we need someone from DHHS in the work session on 1059 in Insurance and Financial Services. There were a lot of folks testifying in favor of LD1078. I hope the committee really heard what the testifiers were saying. The recurring theme was that people want to stay in their own homes as long as they can, whether disabled or elderly. That was the message, loud and clear. I just hope that the committee members heard what was being said. The next step in the process is the work session on both these bills. I think 1078’s was this afternoon. I’m not sure what happened as I was working and could not be there. Tomorrow, LD 1059’s work session is scheduled for 1 pm in IFS. But, we managed to gain a delay in the work session so that DHHS can help us with the proper language of the bill. The delay is good. It will give Commissioner Harvey and the other key players in this a chance to come up with a plan for health insurance for direct care workers. One plan being looked at is the Montana plan. It is basically a Medicaid enhancement that provides a higher rate of reimbursement to providers that take the extra enhancement and turn it directly into health care insurance for their workers. Imagine?! I’ve found more information on the Montana plan at the Health Care for Health Care Workers website. Click on the link and scroll down until you see State Analysis. Under that, you'll see Montana. Under that is the link for the PDF file to view. This plan went into effect this past January. It is insuring roughly 900 of Montana’s direct care workers. We should be able to do this here too.