Workers’ comp bill, backed by Florida Chamber and AIF, advances
PrintThe Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida are praising the House Health and Human Services Committee approval of a bill to cap the amount medical offices could charge when dispensing medication prescribed by an on-site physician.
By putting the costs that could be charged on par with what a pharmacy charges, sponsors of HB 511, have said it could save Florida small businesses that pay into the workers’ compensation system $62 million, through a 2.5 percent rate reduction.
“Closing the repackaged drug loophole will immediately eliminate a key cost driver in rising workers’ compensation rates while also ensuring that workers receive important medication as well as medical care,” Teye Reeves, Florida Chamber of Commerce policy director, stated in a release.
The bill has been a priority for both the chamber and AIF.
“We continue to feel encouraged by the favorable votes this legislation has received so far,” Tamela Perdue, AIF’s general counsel, stated in a release. “We believe this is an unfair practice that is holding employers responsible for markups that are, in the end, hiking up their workers’ compensation premiums unnecessarily.”
“Both proposals in the House and Senate have been moving along the process and we believe that is going to continue,” Perdue added. “We have the support of Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty who has committed to granting a rate reduction in workers’ compensation insurance rates for Florida businesses of at least the 2.5 percent that can be attributed to drug repackaging, if and when this bill becomes a law.”
A cap was approved by legislators as part of a larger bill in 2010. But with opposition expressed by medical groups, including the Florida Medical Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, mostly on convenience grounds, former Gov. Charlie Crist utilized a line-item veto on the measure.
