Health-care panel can't sum itself up

By Angie Welling
Deseret Morning News
Published: Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006 1:12 p.m. MST
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A legislative task force charged with studying Utah's health-care market came to an anticlimactic end Monday, with lawmakers unable to agree how to sum up their efforts over the past two years.

The final meeting of the Privately Owned Health Care Task Force was indicative of the body's previous meetings, which were often marked with contentious debate about the direction and goals of the committee.

Task force members spent Monday's meeting debating the wording of a conclusion to the committee's final report to the Legislature. Ultimately, the task force failed to come to a consensus and adjourned abruptly without taking any action.

Lawmakers have disagreed about the purpose of the task force, as well as the efficacy of an independent report, commissioned by the body at the price of $297,000, which found Utah enjoys a competitive health-care system that delivers quality care at reasonable prices.

The report also recommended the task force "refrain from intervention in Utah's health-care markets."

Which, ultimately, is what the task force did after nearly two years of meetings, countless hours of testimony and mountains of data, prompting Rep. Brad Last, R-St. George, to ask task force co-chairman Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-West Jordan: "In your view, are we at exactly the same place we were two years ago?"

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The task force was created in the 2005 legislative session as a compromise to a bill, sponsored by Waddoups, that would have imposed a gross receipts tax on the largely tax-exempt Intermountain Healthcare. The measure was an attempt to address Intermountain's perceived monopoly of the state's health-care system, as well as what some described as anti-competitive business practices.

And the compromise task force was hailed as a way to address the contentious issues surrounding Utah's health-care system, from costs to access.

Responding to Last's question, Waddoups said, "I make no apologies for this task force. I think this task force has done a yeoman's work. ... This examination needed to happen."

Waddoups proposed adding a concluding paragraph to the task force's final report, noting "there are issues in the Utah health care market that still exist," including patient choice, access to affordable care and a level playing field for competition.

Task force members proposed several changes to the text, including a suggestion that the body notes that it takes no position on future legislative measures related to health care.

"We've got a lot of issues left on the table, I think, that need to be addressed," said Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City. "And this task force should take those issues forward, not necessarily in a bill, to encourage the Legislature to continue to look at health care."

Several task force members discussed the need for "closure" by reaching a formal conclusion, or observation, about its efforts.

"We have to make some sort of a report to the Legislature about our conclusions," said Rep. Rebecca Lockhart, R-Provo. "And if our conclusions are simply that we can't agree, then let's say it."

After several failed motions, however, Monday's meeting adjourned without agreeing on a conclusion to the proposed final report, which task force members also voted against adopting.

The report, without the full support of the task force, will be presented Wednesday to other lawmakers meeting in interim committees.

E-mail: awelling@desnews.com

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