Overview
By Marie Mulroy, Past NHPHA President 

Last week was an interesting week. New Hampshire may not have a new 2016-2017 budget for six months; the Supreme Court made two great rulings; and the House of Representatives in Washington, DC set back the fate of our clean air by voting for  H.R. 2042, The Ratepayer Protection Plan. 

 

In a not surprising vote at the New Hampshire State House, the budget as presented by the Committee Conference, passed on Wednesday of last week and was vetoed immediately by the Governor on Thursday. This necessitated a Continuing Resolution, HJR 2, which was proposed, passed and signed into law by the Governor on Thursday to keep the state operating for 6 months under the terms of the FY 2015 budget.  While completely justified and necessary, the Governor's veto creates an uncertainty about what is going to happen to services and programs.  The fact that Speaker of the House Jasper and Senate President Morse has indicated that it will probably be Fall before they begin to work on the budget again does nothing to ease that uncertainty.

 

Last week in a joint Op-Ed published on Thursday by the Concord Monitor, both Katie Robert, President of NHPHA, and Kim Mahon, Executive Director of the Rural Health Roundtable, pointed out how the budget in its present form puts a disproportionate burden on the 47% of New Hampshire's residents who live in rural areas.  This sector of the population is often overlooked and we are hopeful that this Op-Ed opens the door to more discussions on this important topic.   It is the sincere hope of NHPHA that in the next round of budget negotiations, that both sides can come together  to better balance the needs and obligations of the state to its individual citizens against the desire to be economically competitive at a cost that puts our most vulnerable in jeopardy.    

 

On a brighter note, the Supreme Court with its decision on King v. Burwell ruled that those citizens who purchased their insurance through states with federal exchanges were just as entitled to receive premium credits as their state exchange counterparts.  With this ruling, both individuals and businesses whose penalties and credits hinged on those premium credits got final clarification and can now move forward and make the best decisions for themselves and their companies.  

 

Also this week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage which was the culmination of almost 45 years of litigation and activism.  From a public health perspective, this decision opens the door to better health care access.  See the NHPHA Blog page (link below)

 

Finally, Pope Francis' published his Encyclical on Climate Change which calls for the world to live in solidarity with one another by minimizing the devastating effects that today's choices may have on generations to come.  He has also called upon everyone to advocate for long-term solutions that protect the environment and the common good of all inhabitants particularly the sick and the poor.

 

In contrast, the House of Representatives in Washington passed H.R. 2042, a bill that guts the EPA's Clean Power Plan. Specifically, H.R. 2042 would bar EPA from enforcing the Clean Power Plan until all court actions on the rule are final, including further review and appeal. Climate change is an urgent problem, and such unnecessary delay could take years. According to the American Lung Association, "This legislation will also allow governors to opt out of cleaning up carbon pollution in their states, denying their residents - and those of downwind states - the lifesaving benefits of the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan would limit carbon pollution from power plants, drive reductions of other dangerous pollutants and prevent up to 6,600 premature deaths and 150,000 asthma attacks per year when fully implemented."

 

Back in New Hampshire, NHPHA will continue to follow the state budget. We plan to send an issue of HIAP late in July to wrap up all that happened legislatively except the budget and will send HIAP issues specifically on the budget when we have anything to say. Stay tuned! 

APHA to Supreme Court: 

Same-sex marriage bans harmful to nation's health


March 10, 2015 - Marriage equality is a public health issue, APHA and Whitman-Walker Health wrote in an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court this week. According to the brief, the highest court should reverse a decision from the . . . Read more on the NHPHA Blog

Senate and House Updates

Coming soon, there will be a year-end wrap up of the bills NHPHA followed this session.