A Q&A with state Rep. Tina Pickett

Republican state Rep. Tina Pickett has served on the state House Insurance Committee – she is currently its minority chair – for over two decades. Pickett recently spoke with City & State about the need for lawmakers to address high insurance costs; how Pennie, the state’s insurance marketplace, has improved access to health insurance; and the importance of safeguarding consumer data as it pertains to insurance.

The following interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Are there any health insurance-related policy issues that the legislature needs to address sooner rather than later?

Health care is, of course, always very expensive. The question is, what’s really driving that health insurance cost increase? Is it the cost of the technology? Is it building new facilities? Is it trying to pay physicians and hold onto staff – probably all the above … I think looking at those cost drivers and every single one of the lines would be something that we should look at doing this next time around.

How has Pennie impacted cost and access to health insurance in Pennsylvania?

I think the system created a way for people to purchase those plans fairly easily and for the companies to sell them – they seem to be relatively OK with it. I can point to the enrollment, which is at record levels, that says that that is happening. 

There are federal subsidies to help bring down the cost for individuals and families. Without that, it wouldn’t work, because that puts people in a place where they can, according to what their income is, be able to purchase insurance. Of course, we all pay for those subsidies with our taxes and our premiums. But overall, if it keeps people from having to scramble in the emergency rooms and that sort of thing, it probably does make sense.

You were a co-sponsor of House Bill 739, now Act 2 of 2023, which requires insurers to conduct risk assessments related to threats, information security systems, things of that nature. How did that law come to be, and why is it important to strengthen data security provisions around insurance?

We see more and more issues with breaches, with information just scooped up by somebody who’s going to use it in an unfortunate way. We should know exactly what that risk was to those consumers involved. When that company has to have a security plan in place, they have to notify the regulatory agencies, and they also have to let their customers know, what was the scope of that? What did it mean to you? What did you lose? What are we doing to protect it even more next time? Do we have the proper plans in place? We wanted to make sure that the companies were cognizant of the situation and that they were looking out for themselves but also looking out for their customers. 

Is there anything else you wanted to add on the topic of health insurance?

It’s a complicated subject, not only for us and the things that we address as a committee but also, of course, out there for the consumer. And with that complexity comes a lot of stakeholders that probably aren’t going to totally agree with each other – the health care industry, the trial lawyers and the medical world in general – and the insurance companies, of course.

Trying to bring them together on a subject that you can put out as a piece of legislation – with the consumer under consideration – and something they can all at least agree to deal with is difficult. It may not be everything they want, but at least they all had a stake and a voice in it. 

During this session, even though my team is in the minority, the two sides of the aisle have cooperated on the insurance issues; I’m really happy about that. I didn’t know when we went into it that that would happen, but it’s been good, and I think we have been able to bring things forth that have, in general, made sense. A few times, we simply couldn’t come to an agreement, but we agreed to disagree, and we each knew where the other one stood – that’s helpful, too. That type of cooperation and open discussion are vital to what we do on this subject.