Plan to expand insurance appears stalled

The state House of Representatives appears likely to have stalled a plan that would expand insurance coverage for infertility treatments to include single women, widows and same-sex couples.

The bill was scheduled for a House vote Wednesday, but problems arose over whether all employers would be required to provide expanded coverage. The bill was sent back to a committee for revision.

Sponsor Edith Ajello, D-Providence, said in her mind the bill is now dead. “There would have been a floor fight and the governor would have vetoed it anyway,” Ajello said Wednesday. “We’ll have to try again when there’s a new governor.”

Rhode Island is one of 14 states including Massachusetts and Connecticut that require insurers to cover a major portion of infertility treatments, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

But unlike other states that provide coverage, the Ocean State limits that benefit to married women.

Ajello says those who would benefit from expanded coverage include same-sex couples unable to marry in Rhode Island; widows of soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan and heterosexual couples who decide not to marry.

Two years ago, lawmakers passed the bill, but it was vetoed by the governor who said “as a matter of public policy, the state should be encouraging the birth of children to two-parent families, not the reverse.” Carcieri went on to say the benefit “allows for further creeping of cost in our health care system.”

—Cynthia Needham

Marijuana dispensaries bill moves ahead

The House on Wednesday pushed forward a plan to create medical marijuana dispensaries that would sell the drug to patients who use it for medicinal purposes.

The bill has already been approved in both chambers, though disputes over minor language changes have prevented any one version from passing the House and the Senate –– a necessary step for the legislation to reach the governor’s desk.

The version passed in the House on Wednesday heads back to the Senate, where it will have a committee hearing on Tuesday.

Since medical marijuana was legalized in 2006, supporters said it provided no clear path to obtain marijuana, leaving it up to patients to grow it, or buy it on the street. State-regulated “compassion centers” could provide a safer and presumably more affordable alternative, they say. Governor Carcieri, a longtime critic of medical marijuana, could veto the measure, though lawmakers may have the votes needed to override a veto.

—Cynthia Needham

Senate votes to cap pay of hospital CEOs

On the Senate side, lawmakers unanimously approved a measure Wednesday that would limit the salaries of Rhode Island hospital executives.

Following reports that Lifespan CEO George Vecchione was paid $3 million in salary and benefits over each of the last two years, Sen. Michael J. McCaffrey, D-Warwick, introduced the legislation capping pay at state-licensed hospitals at 110 percent of the average salary for similar positions at similar institutions in the Northeast.

“These enormous salaries for top executives are just helping to push the cost of health care even further out of the reach of the public,” McCaffrey said.

The proposal will not become law without approval from the House, where Majority Whip Peter F. Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket, has sponsored a similar bill.

—Steve Peoples