Signed by the Governor: Alabama Law Expands Health Freedom
Late last month, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill into law that will help facilitate healthcare freedom in the state, and set the stage to nullify federal control over the healthcare industry in practice.
Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) sponsored Senate Bill 94 (SB94). The new law specifies that direct primary care agreements (sometimes called medical retainer agreements) do not constitute insurance, thereby freeing doctors and patients from the onerous requirements and regulations under the state insurance code. The bill also provides that a physician or dentist offering, marketing, selling, or entering into physician or dentist agreements will not be required to obtain a license or certificate of authority from any state entity. SB94 sets certain requirement such agreements would have to meet.
The Senate passed SB94 by a 27-0 margin. The House followed up passing the measure 102-0. With Ivey’s signature, the new law will go into effect later this summer.
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According to Michigan Capitol Confidential, by removing a third-party payer from the equation, medical retainer agreements help both physicians and patients minimize costs. Jack Spencer writes:
Under medical retainer agreements, patients make monthly payments to a physician who in return agrees to provide a menu of routine services at no extra charge. Because no insurance company stands between patient and doctor, the hassles and expense of bureaucratic red tape are eliminated, which have resulted in dramatic cost reductions. Routine primary care services (and the bureaucracy required to reimburse them) are estimated to consume 40 cents out of every dollar spent on insurance policies, so lower premiums for a given amount of coverage are another potential benefit.
This represents the kind of cost control Obamacare promised, but failed to deliver.
Under Obamacare, regulations define such programs as a primary care service and not a health insurance plan, and current IRS policy treats these monthly fee arrangements just like another health plan.
A FIRST STEP
At this point, the Republicans still haven’t repealed Obamacare, and the changes to the ACA passed by the U.S. House keep the basic the framework of Obamacare in place. Regardless, state actions can help completely bring down the Affordable Care Act, or any national healthcare plan the Congress comes up with in the future.
Oftentimes, supporters of Obamacare criticize opponents for not having any alternative. Direct primary care offers one.
These direct patient/doctor agreements allow a system uncontrolled by government regulations to develop. It makes doctors responsive to patients, not insurance company bureaucrats or government rule-makers. Allowing patients to contract directly with doctors via medical retainer agreements opens the market. Under such agreements, market forces will set price for services based on both demand instead of relying on central planners with a political agenda. The end-result will be better care delivered at a lower cost.
By incentivizing creative healthcare solutions, the market will naturally provide better options, such as the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, This facility operates completely outside of the insurance system, providing a low-cost alternative for many surgical procedures.
A more open healthcare marketplace within a state will help spur de facto nullification the federal program by providing an affordable alternative. As patients flock to these arrangements and others spurred by ingenuity and market forces, the old system will begin to crumble.
Passage of SB94 represents a first step toward healthcare freedom in Alabama, and creates a stepping stone to further action to nullify the onerous Affordable Care act. Alabamans should follow up with further steps to fully extricate themselves from Obamacare for good.
For more information on a plan to nullify the PPACA, click HERE.
WHAT’S NEXT
SB94 will go into effect Aug. 1, 2017.
