Utah lawmakers hoping to revive doctor-choice bill

Like a cardiac-arrest patient being jolted back to life, every possible effort is under way on Capitol Hill to resuscitate a health-care bill that would make "Any Willing Provider" the law in Utah.

Key legislative players in support of SB34 have been meeting with Senate and House leadership, pushing to revive the measure that was recalled by the Senate on Friday.

Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, asked that the bill be returned from the House and its provisions become the subject of task force study after it was sent to the House Business and Labor Committee, a place where Buttars said the bill would surely die.

"It was sent where they felt it would be killed. There were already five (legislators) dead set against it," he said.

The measure, already passed by the Senate but opposed by several key insurance players in Utah's market, would allow any willing health-care provider — from doctors to therapists to suppliers of medical equipment — to accept any patient not on their insurance plan as long as they were willing to take 95 percent of the plan's reimbursement rate.

Opponents predict health-care costs would rise as a result, especially with health maintenance organizations that have closed panels as a way to keep down costs.

Supporters, however, say the resulting competition would keep costs low.

The Utah Medical Association, representing the majority of Utah doctors, has come out in support of the bill, saying access is key.

"Anything that improves access to health care for patients will improve the system overall," said UMA president-elect Katherine Wheeler.

The association's comments come on the heels of a poll conducted by NSON Opinion Research, which tapped 385 Utahns to assess the level of support for an Any Willing Provider law.

Commissioned by the Utah Coalition of Patient and Physician Rights, a supporter of the bill, the poll found 80 percent of the respondents would favor a measure allowing them to choose their own doctors.

Another 75 percent of those surveyed wanted their lawmakers to vote for SB34, according to the poll.

Despite the results, the fate of SB34 remains unknown — with its destiny likely to land in the laps of lawmakers in the final few days of the session, scheduled to end March 3.

While Buttars had said he wasn't necessarily opposed to having the merits of SB34 studied by a task force, his opinion had obviously changed late Monday after a meeting with Senate leadership and IHC representatives.

Buttars said he feared the crafting of the task force was too stridently focused on SB61, which sought to levy a 3 percent tax on IHC.