From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Legislators at a Joint Health Committee public hearing questioned a Department of Health Services proposal to increase the fees for infant screening for congenital disorders.
“I think going through that budget process and having that dialog with legislators is a better route trying to do it as an administrative rule,” Rep. Adam Neylon, R-Pewaukee, said yesterdsay.
The proposal would increase the infant screening fee to $223 from the $195 approved last year and set a rule to adjust the fee every two years based on the economic index. The proposed rule would also add four conditions to test infants for.
DHS officials said there is a need for increased state investment because the costs of the program are going up, leading the department to experience a deficit.
DHS Legislative Director Arielle Exner said costs have increased because there are more disorders to test for, additional caseloads each year and general administrative costs going up.
Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, also pushed back on the process. He asked why the department doesn’t go through the Joint Finance Committee for funding.
Exner said the DHS effort last session was not successful, so the department is going through the rules process. The Legislature last session had approved a $50 increase to $159.25, and Gov. Tony Evers used his partial veto to increase it to $195.
Wisconsin Hospitals Association representative Ann Zenk expressed concerns with the proposed change, saying it would increase costs for hospitals.
“This rule change would have an immediate impact of more than doubling the card fees, expenses, of hospital birthing centers.”
— Dems at a contentious hearing strongly criticized GOP legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors, saying doctors and families should be involved in those decisions.
“Why is it that on this particular issue, on the issue of care for transgender individuals, that we should substitute the judgment of legislators for the judgment of physicians and families as they’re deciding their course?” Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, asked during yesterday’s Assembly Health, Aging and Long-Term Care hearing.
Republican co-authors claimed gender-affirming care harms minors and said the bill would protect children.
Co-author Sen. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, in his opening testimony said he wasn’t proposing the bill “to demonize the trans community.”
Tomczyk said he considers it “child abuse” when parents “allow their children to begin hormone therapy, take puberty blockers and begin to transition.”
AB 104 would ban gender-affirming care for anyone under 18. The bill includes several exceptions, including for “a good faith medical decision of a parent or guardian of a minor born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development.” Medical professionals found to have violated the ban would have their licenses revoked.
See more from the hearing at WisPolitics.
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