Who Lobbies Maryland's Hospital Price-Setters
Maryland is the only state in America where a government commission sets what hospitals charge. The Health Services Cost Review Commission has been doing it since the 1970s, and every rate it sets moves millions of dollars between hospitals, insurers, and patients. It is the most consequential economic regulator in state government that nobody covers as a lobbying beat. Until now.
The timing is not accidental. Maryland's old rate-setting model, Total Cost of Care, technically ended December 31. The state is transitioning to the federal AHEAD model, and the commission just voted to tap private health insurers to help fund the shift, a move the insurers hate. Matthew Celentano of the League of Life and Health Insurers of Maryland said the state 'relies again and again on the commercial market when unaffordable health care costs already burden Maryland families and businesses.' When the price-setters move, everybody with money on the table shows up. Here is who has shown up so far.
Below the paywall: every hospital lobbyist on the books for the new lobbying year, and the big names that haven't filed yet.
