We are roughly one-third of the way through the legislative session and things are moving quickly.
Health Care
Senate floor action this week included debate on several health care related bills.
Among those bills was Senate Bill 607. The bill requires the Department of Social Services to do an audit to verify that those who receive public assistance meet the necessary eligibility requirements. Although this sounds like a simple, common sense measure, similar legislation in other states helped those states find cost savings as they identified numerous instances where those who were actually ineligible, and in some cases deceased, received benefits. In Illinois Medicaid alone, 220,000 such cases were found; cleaning up the rolls saved the state over $100 million. Given that nearly one-third of our state budget is spent in the area of social services, I think it’s important that we audit these programs to ensure we are not inappropriately using taxpayer dollars due to poor oversight.
Senators also debated Senate Bill 582. The bill, known as the Health Care Cost Reduction and Transparency Act, states that no contract provision between a health care provider and a health carrier shall be enforceable if such provision prohibits the health care provider from disclosing the insurance “allowable amount” to patients. The goal of the legislation is to ensure that the patient is aware of health care costs so he or she can make an informed decision about which treatment options to select.
Finally, senators debated Senate Bill 621. The bill authorizes the use of telemedicine in the state, which is defined as the delivery of health services when the patient is at a site different than that of the physician. It also states what providers are allowed to offer such services to MO HealthNet participants. This legislation is especially important to those living in rural areas and those who have difficulty traveling to receive healthcare.
I applaud the sponsors of these bills for their hard work as each piece of legislation represents positive steps forward for health care and most especially patients in this state.
Data Privacy
Aside from our work on the Senate floor, we also spent considerable time attending various committees this week. On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to present Senate Bill 989 to the Senate Education Committee. The bill sets forth a framework for protecting the private data of students in our schools. The last two decades have brought with them an information explosion. While this has the potential for great innovations in all aspects of our lives, it also creates challenges as evidenced by the numerous data breaches that have occurred over the past few years, which have affected one in five Americans.
Major government agencies including the NSA and even the White House have been breached. Even our own state government has broken our trust, as happened in the 2013 scandal involving the Department of Revenue’s release of personal information and data on concealed carry permit holders.
Just last year, the state auditor released an audit that highlighted a number of issues specific to student data, including the fact that social security numbers were collected in education settings for no good business reason. These scenarios are all examples of why we need to be attentive of what information is gathered on us, who it is shared with and why. We need to be particularly solicitous of our children’s personal data, which is what Senate Bill 989 is intended to protect. By limiting what state agencies can collect without permission and by dictating with whom it may or may not be shared, this legislation will help protect Missourians’ right to privacy.
I hope the committee will choose to support this legislation and move it forward so we can have a broader discussion about data privacy.
These are just a few of the many issues moving through the Missouri Senate. The next few weeks will prove to be full of debate on important topics, including legislation filed in response to the Senate’s Sanctity of Life Committee hearings during the interim as well as legislation pertaining to ethics. I look forward to providing updates on these bills as they are debated in the coming weeks.
As always, I’ve included this week in photos below. Many thanks to all of those who took the time to stop by our office and visit.
It is truly an honor and privilege to serve you.
Very Sincerely,
Capitol Visitors- I always enjoy welcoming visitors to my office, most especially constituents from my district.
Contacting Senator Onder
Throughout this session, I will do my best to keep you informed of our work here in the Capitol. I encourage you to contact my office if you have comments, questions or concerns.
For constituent questions, scheduling and general questions, please contact my Scheduler and Director of Constituent Services Theckla Spainhower at Theckla.Spainhower@senate.mo.gov.
For questions pertaining to legislation, please contact my Chief of Staff and Legislative Director Jennae Neustadt at Jennae.Neustadt@senate.mo.gov.
You can reach my Capitol office at (573) 751-1282. You can also e-mail me personally at Bob.Onder@senate.mo.gov.
I would like to encourage you to sign up for my weekly capitol reports so we can inform you of our work each week. Please email Theckla Spainhower at Theckla.Spainhower@senate.mo.gov to be added to our mailing list.
Thank you again for your support. I look forward to serving you.
Very Sincerely,
Robert F. (Bob) Onder, Jr.