Georgia Legislative Watch

The AJC notes that members from both parties are balking at Gov. Sonny Perdue’s fee proposal on hospitals and insurance companies:

Gov. Sonny Perdue’s proposal to fund Medicaid and trauma care with a combination of fees on hospitals and health insurance plans, as well as fines on “super-speeder” motorists, met with skepticism from several legislators.

Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, took aim at Perdue’s plan. “I’m unequivocally opposed to that new tax,” Ehrhart said. “That’s not a tax on hospitals. It’s a tax on individual consumers.” Ehrhart, as chairman of Rules, has great power to decide what legislation reaches the House floor.

Perdue first broached the possibility of the hospital fee at a meeting in December with hospital industry executives, many of whom opposed the idea.

Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) said she’s a strong backer of a statewide trauma network and is still trying to figure out how much money will come from fining “super-speeders,” as the governor suggested. “What does that mean, really?” Oliver asked. “We’re going to have a real split in the health care community about who gets taxed extra,” Oliver said.

Perdue has proposed a 1.6 percent fee on hospital revenues and health insurance plans to fill the state’s $208 million hole in Medicaid this year, and to provide $60 million towards a statewide trauma network.

Senate minority leader Robert Brown (D-Macon) disagreed with most of what Perdue said. “I’m just disappointed overall with the governor and his lack of leadership,” Brown said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to tax hospitals to fund trauma care,” Brown said.

Never say that anything will get shot down in the General Assembly, but Rep. Ehrhart and Sen. Brown Are two leaders who will need to be behind such a plan. As goes leadership, so goes the Governor’s proposal.