Statement from Employers’ Forum of Indiana on Indiana Healthcare Legislation (April 28, 2023)
On April 27, 2023, both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly passed landmark legislation to curtail Indiana’s high healthcare prices and bring balance to our anti-competitive healthcare market. These bills, which include HEA 1004, SEA 7, and SEA 8, now head to Governor Holcomb’s desk.
Gloria Sachdev, president and CEO of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana, issued the following statement in response to this significant achievement:
“Data wins! Hoosier families and Hoosier businesses have paid some of the highest prices for hospital facility care anywhere in the country, despite Indiana’s otherwise competitive cost of living. With the passage of House Enrolled Act 1004, legislative leaders including Speaker Todd Huston and President Pro Tem Rodric Bray have made good on their promise to prioritize action on healthcare prices through the legislative session. They consumed data from the RAND studies and listened to testimony from NASHP and from experts at the Petris Center at UC-Berkeley.”
“HEA 1004 sets a price benchmark of 285% for Indiana’s 5 largest hospital systems to be compared to. This means that prices that working Hoosiers are paying will be compared to the prices Medicare pays for the same services at the same hospital. This benchmark is much lower than where these hospitals systems are currently priced at. I believe with the health care cost oversight task force established in this bill and the annual price reports hospitals must send to the General Assembly represent a huge step in the right direction.”
“Importantly, HEA 1004 will also eliminate hospital facility fees at off-campus labs, imaging centers, and physician offices, lowering the price of many visits for Hoosiers and their employers. Elsewhere, Senate Enrolled Act 7 will free primary care physicians from non-compete clauses and Senate Enrolled Act 8 will reduce the price of prescription drugs by forcing pharmacy benefit managers to return rebates to patients and health plans.”
“There is much work left to be done, and healthcare prices across our state aren’t going to fall overnight, but this has been a tremendously successful legislative session for Hoosier patients and their employers. The General Assembly is watching the market closely to ensure Hoosiers aren’t getting a raw deal from health systems, insurers, or drug companies.”
The Employers’ Forum of Indiana sincerely thanks the following individuals and organizations who contributed to the effort to lowering healthcare prices during this legislative session:
- Speaker Todd Huston and President Pro Tem. Rodric Bray, legislative leadership
- Representative Donna Schaibley, author of HEA 1004
- Senator Ed Charbonneau, author of SEA 7
- Senator Justin Busch, author of SEA 8
- Chris Whaley, economist at RAND Corporation
- Marilyn Bartlett, forensic accountant at the National Academy for State Health Policy
- David Kelleher, principle of Healthcare Options Inc. & board member of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana
- Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare
- Indiana Manufacturers Association
- All Employers’ Forum members who educated legislators
Media Contact:
Joel Weyrauch
joel@welldonemarketing.com
(317) 217-0298
Tips for Communicating Your Support of Legislation
Help achieve meaningful change to lower healthcare prices across Indiana. You have stories to tell Indiana legislators. Employers, brokers, physicians, insurers, hospitals, and all of our members are integral parts of the healthcare ecosystem.
Communications to legislators or via letters to the editor should include a call for legislators to vote for the bill, why you support the bill, and how it would benefit your company, employees, community, etc.
Contact Your Legislative Representatives
- Find your legislator on the Indiana General Assembly website here.
- After identifying your legislators, visit their respective caucus pages to find contact information, including phone numbers and contact forms to email.
Submitting a Letter to the Editor
- Identify your local publications that have an option for letters to the editor.
- Navigate to the “Opinion” or “Op-Ed” section of the publications website.
- There you should find a guideline and requirements for letters to the editor, a submission form and contact information for the editor (this also may be located on an “About Us” or “Staff Directory” page).
- Draft your letter, making sure to adhere to guidelines and requirements of the publication and staying focused on the topic. Letters should be under 400 words and not be self-promotional.
Letter to the Editor Template:
Dear Editor,
The opening line should reference Indiana’s high healthcare prices and HB 1004 directly (e.g., With respect to the article “titled like this,”), and then state your position. The rest of the paragraph should summarize your issue of concern in a way that captures the attention of the reader. This is your opportunity to tie your issue to a recently discussed topic, take a stance on a debated topic, or correct an error or misrepresentation you felt was portrayed in an article.
Explain your ties to the issue. In other words, why your business or your professional background gives you insight into Indiana’s high healthcare costs. The subsequent sentence should further explain your issue and why people should care about it. If you need data for your argument, look at what the Employers’ Forum has published in RAND 4.0 and on social media.
Follow your explanation with a call to action. What is at stake if no action is taken? A recent Employers’ Forum analysis demonstrated that the impact of bringing Indiana’s high hospital prices down to the national average could save Hoosiers and their employers $2 billion in a single year. Make the consequences of each very clear, and try, when possible, to inform the reader about the direct impact of taking or not taking action.
In your concluding sentences, recap your point, reiterate your call to action, and include specific information on how readers can get involved.
Sincerely,
Name
Business/Organization
Find Resources to Support Policy Decision Making
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