You deserve to know the costs of health care before you need it. Now after two year's wait it is your legal right!

In 2018, I worked to pass health care price transparency in Alaska, which is now in full effect starting Sunday, December 20th. Health care facilities will now be required to disclose to the total undiscounted price (before insurance) for their 60 most commonly performed services.

You can expect to see price lists, like the one above from Alaska Regional Hospital, posted online and in waiting rooms. If the service or procedure you need is not on the list, you have the right to an estimate within 10 days of a request or the date of service--whichever is sooner.

Alaska has some of the highest health care costs in the country. Health costs eat up Alaskans' household income, stifle business growth, and increase the cost of government. Unlike other sectors, costs of health care goods and services have historically not been made available. Price transparency will empower consumers to make educated choices, encourage competition, and help to drive costs down.

If you have questions about health care price transparency and what it means for you, follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more information. We will be posting a series of videos and Q&A's over the next month to help you understand your right to know health care prices.

This new policy led to Alaska’s recognition as a national leader on health care price transparency, with a white paper by the Massachusetts-based Pioneer Institute recognizing Alaska’s laws as one of the top three in the country for consumers.

Nearly 6 months have passed now since the $600/week federal unemployment benefit lapsed, and Congress still has not passed additional relief. The precautions put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and prevent our hospitals and health care system from being overwhelmed are necessary, but without financial relief they can be financially devastating.

With each day that goes by without additional federal aid, more Alaskans are pushed towards the brink of homelessness in the middle of winter, and more local businesses face financial ruin. I am hopeful that Sen. Murkowski's compromise package will get traction, but Alaskans have waited too long, and we simply do not have the resources at the state level to meet the need.

I joined my colleagues in writing Congress in both July and December. If you can spare a minute, please join me in asking Congress to act as quickly and as generously as possible.

This week thousands of doses of Pfizer's COVID vaccine were shipped to Alaska, and then distributed across the state. Front-line health care workers in cities, towns and villages all over Alaska have been lining up to get vaccinated.

While there was an adverse reaction to the vaccine in Juneau (the first recorded episode of such a reaction in the country), the Department of Health and Social Services assured the House H&SS committee on Thursday that the vaccine is safe and effective. Additionally, there is another vaccine pending approval by the FDA that could also arrive in Alaska as early as next week.

Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska's Chief Medical Officer, recently was on Alaska Public Radio's Talk of Alaska to discuss the vaccines, their distribution, and who will be vaccinated during the first round of vaccinations.

If you'd like to stay up to date on COVID, DHSS has created a sign-up page for updates related to COVID, including messages on the vaccine process.

The Governor released his proposed budget for FY22 last week. Here is a high summary of some of the major proposed changes.

The Governors proposed FY22 budget:

I don't support the Governor's proposal to cut public education which is one of the most important things we do. The Health and Social Services cuts include reductions from one-time COVID-19 related increases but also includes cuts to Medicaid and Public Assistance which I will be carefully scrutinizing because of how important these programs are.

I support the PFD but it's critical that we protect the Permanent Fund from being overspent. The Governor proposes taking double the sustainable amount from the Permanent Fund which would reduce the Permanent Fund's value in future years. This is important because the Permanent Fund now provides 75% of the State of Alaska's unrestricted revenue. We can't risk our ability to pay for constitutionally required services like education, public safety and health care for one-time super size PFDs.

If you'd like to dig into the details of the proposed budget, you can find a lot of information through the Office of Management and Budget. The legislature's Finance Division will be releasing their own analysis of the proposed budget in the coming weeks.

Commonwealth North has developed an online state budget balancing tool, which allows you to try and resolve our $1.2b budget deficit. More than 1,000 Alaskans have already used the tool. 69% support maintaining or increasing the state’s budget, 46% of support paying the same PFD as this year, and only 17% supporting a full statutory PFD or paying Alaskans the difference between PFD’s funded over the last three years and the statutory PFD.

Alaskan’s don’t support the Governor’s approach. 55% of Alaskans who did the AKBudget.com budget balancing process support taking no more than the current 5% draw from the Permanent Fund—protecting the Permanent Fund for future generations. Instead, a real surprise for many was that 58% of those who did the survey support a statewide sales tax and 57% support a statewide income tax.

If you'd like, take a minute to see how you might balance the state's budget. Once you're done, you can enter in your zip code to send your budget priorities this year directly to your legislator.

Email: [email protected]