The Alaska House of Representatives chamber, photographed on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau. “Direct health care agreements work similarly to a gym membership,” said Rep. Kevin McCabe, a Big Lake Republican who sponsored the legislation in the House. It would allow Alaskans to pay a monthly fee in return for primary care services rather than paying per visit.
McCabe said the bill would save costs by removing the need for private insurance providers — whom he called “third party middlemen” who are “skimming profits off of patient-provider relationships.
One key change made to the bill by House members prevailed. The Senate had required that clinics offering direct health agreements be owned by Alaska-based physicians — a measure meant to stave off private equity investors from purchasing Alaska clinics. The House stripped that requirement, saying it would unnecessarily limit the kinds of practices that could offer such agreements.
Wasilla Republican Sen. David Wilson, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said Monday he did not know where Senate members stood given changes made in the House.“You would have to buy a really large provider network to make it portable and lucrative for a private equity firm,” said Wilson, adding that such large networks aren’t widespread in Alaska.