The House and Senate could be moving closer to agreement on a healthcare bill about direct primary care.
The House Health Care Services Committee on Thursday tagged a strike all amendment onto its direct primary care proposal, HB 7047, to include “medical tourism.”
The move makes the bill near identical to a proposed committee bill that the Senate Health Policy Committee Chairman state Sen. Aaron Bean unveiled at a committee meeting earlier this week, 7084, sans a provision in the Senate bill that includes sovereign immunity at free clinics.
While the bill moved through the committee with ease state Rep. Gayle Harrell expressed concerns that the committee was including the medical tourism provision in the bill, also the subject of a free-standing bill HB 945, which has not been heard in committee.
Harrell said it’s “a little disconcerting when we combine bills” at the last committee stop. She also noted that Enterprise Florida, which would be charged with the medial tourism provision in the bill, was not at the committee to testify.
The bill allows individuals and employers to enter into direct primary care contracts with doctors without running afoul of state insurance laws. The arrangements allow doctors to charge a set fee in exchange for primary care services.
State Rep. Mia Jones voted against the bill because she had concerns that Floridians may not understand that the direct primary care arrangement doesn’t meet the individual mandate requirement under the federal healthcare law unless individuals also purchase a wrap-arond catastrophic insurance policy.
