Co-pay mandate advances to full Senate HR committee

February 5, 2015

On Tuesday, a Senate subcommittee advanced Senate Study Bill 1094, a bill that would require office co-pays for physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech pathologists to be no greater than co-pays for primary care physicians. This bill would interfere with the private, market-driven system, and give employers and employees less choice and less ability to negotiate on health insurance policies. This bill passed subcommittee last year but did not make it through the entire legislative process. Also, in 2012, the legislature passed and the governor signed a similar bill for chiropractors. ABI and other organizations opposed to the bill argued that if the chiropractor mandate passed, other health care providers would be coming to the legislature to ask for the same thing.  Sure enough, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech pathologists have requested the mandate.  Now that the bill has passed subcommittee, it will now move to the full Senate Human Resources Committee for consideration. The Iowa House has introduced House Study Bill 102, a companion to the Senate bill.