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2019 SESSION

19103647D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 609
Offered January 9, 2019
Prefiled December 21, 2018
Directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study health care spending in the Commonwealth. Report.
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Patrons-- Carter, Hope, Kory, Levine, Plum and Tyler
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. health care spending increased 4.3 percent to reach $3.3 trillion, or $10,348 per person, in 2016; and

WHEREAS, national health care spending is projected to continue to grow at a rate of 5.6 percent per year between 2016 and 2025, a rate that is 1.2 percentage points faster than the growth of the Gross Domestic Product per year during the same period; and

WHEREAS, between 1991 and 2014, the average annual rate of growth for personal health care spending in the Commonwealth was 6.5 percent, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and

WHEREAS, personal health care spending in the Commonwealth totaled $62.847 billion in 2014; and

WHEREAS, the cost of health care is a major budget consideration and increasing burden for the federal government, for state and local governments, for individuals, and for businesses and other organizations; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission be directed to study health care spending in the Commonwealth.

In conducting its study, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission shall (i) estimate the total number of residents of the Commonwealth with public health insurance coverage, with private health insurance coverage, with subsidized health insurance coverage, and without health insurance coverage; (ii) determine the number of residents of the Commonwealth who struggle to pay health care costs or who have delayed or failed to receive health care due to difficulty paying health care costs; (iii) determine the amounts paid by the federal government, state and local governments, private health insurance providers, and private individuals for health care in the Commonwealth; and (iv) develop a summary of private health care spending in the Commonwealth, including spending for uncompensated care, out-of-pocket payments by patients for health care services that are not covered by insurance, copayments and coinsurance payments, health insurance premium payments, and contributions to health insurance premiums paid by employers on behalf of employees.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission for this study, upon request.

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission shall complete its meetings for the first year by November 30, 2018, and for the second year by November 30, 2019, and the chairman shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary of its findings and recommendations no later than the first day of the next Regular Session of the General Assembly for each year. Each executive summary shall state whether the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission intends to submit to the General Assembly and the Governor a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summaries and reports shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.