HEALTH CARE/
INSURANCE

The Indiana Manufacturers Association supports lowering Indiana’s high health care costs to free more dollars for employees and capital investment.

Indiana manufacturers spend millions each year for the health care of their employees. The overwhelming majority of manufacturers are self-insured, meaning that dollars are set aside by the employer to pay claims. Thus, added cost in health care spending is money that a manufacturer cannot use for worker pay, capital investment and growth. Increased healthcare expenses in Indiana put employers in the state at a competitive disadvantage to businesses in other, less expensive states. 

Protect Medical Prior Authorization

The IMA strongly opposes legislative efforts to curtail or eliminate the use of prior authorization in healthcare. As manufacturers committed to providing high-quality, cost-effective health benefits to employees, we recognize the vital role prior authorization plays in ensuring appropriate and efficient healthcare delivery. In recent legislative sessions of the Indiana General Assembly, the prior authorization process has come under attack. With these attacks come some scary scenarios for employers’ health care costs. Statewide employers’ costs just under Anthem, the state’s largest insurance carrier, could skyrocket by more than $300 million per year if prior authorization is eliminated. These staggering numbers don’t even include government funded insurance plans which include Medicaid and the State of Indiana Employee Plan. We urge lawmakers to reconsider any legislation that would undermine this important safeguard.

  

Defend Self-Insured Health Insurance Plans 

The IMA strongly opposes any state legislation or regulation that would interfere with the design, administration, or operation of self-insured health plans. Self-insured health plans provide employers with the flexibility to tailor benefit packages to meet the unique needs of their workforce and control healthcare costs. Preserving the right of employers to offer self-insured health plans without state interference is essential for maintaining a competitive and efficient healthcare marketplace. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) establishes a clear federal framework for regulating employee benefit plans, including self-insured health plans. State interference undermines ERISA preemption and creates a patchwork of conflicting regulations, increasing administrative burdens and compliance costs for employers. The Indiana General Assembly should reject any measures that would undermine the ability of employers to offer self-insured health plans.

Prohibit Anti-Competitve Clauses in Health Care Contracts

Market consolidation drives up the cost of health care and Indiana markets. The top 3 hospital corporations in Indiana, by operating revenue, control, on average, 91% of the hospital market in the state’s 15 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). 

• The IMA will support legislation that prohibits language that groups all facilities within a hospital system together, such as anti-tiering language and “all or nothing” language that requires all facilities within a larger system to be included in an insurance network.

• The IMA will support legislation to prohibit contract clauses that automatically include new acquisitions in hospital reimbursement rates. New acquisitions should be subject to negotiation to ensure price and quality accountability. 

• The IMA will support legislation to prohibit contract clauses that require all referrals to be made to other entities owned by a hospital system.