HB 6088, An Act Requiring Health Care Providers Who Receive Any State Funding To Accept Cash Payment For Servic

TESTIMONY OF THE CONNECTICUT HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
SUBMITTED TO THE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

Thursday, February 20, 2025

The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) appreciates this opportunity to submit testimony concerning HB 6088, An Act Requiring Health Care Providers Who Receive Any State Funding To Accept Cash Payment For Services. CHA opposes the bill as drafted.

Connecticut hospitals and health systems care for patients, strengthen the state’s economy, and support vulnerable communities across the state. Every day, they work to improve healthcare access, affordability, and health equity. Even as they face ongoing challenges, hospitals provide world-class care to everyone who walks through their doors, regardless of their ability to pay. Hospitals also support an exemplary workforce as the largest collective employer in the state, contribute significantly to the state’s economy, and invest in their communities addressing social drivers of health.

HB 6088 seeks to revise the general statutes to require that “health care providers who receive any state funding (1) accept cash payment for health care services and related fees, including, but not limited to, parking fees, and (2) provide change up to fifty dollars.”

CHA recognizes that some patients and families do not have access to non-cash payment methods. It is reasonable to encourage all businesses to have a mechanism that allows people to pay with cash, including at a staffed or central location during established business hours. Having a process that allows payment with cash meets current law (see Section 21a-434).

CHA has concerns over HB 6088, as written, as it (1) mandates healthcare providers to accept cash at every point of service, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and (2) requires healthcare providers to “provide change” up to $50.

CHA is not opposed to a requirement that healthcare providers have a process whereby an individual may pay using cash. However, HB 6088, as written, would force providers to add administrative staff, and complexity, related to billing and payment. This requirement would likely increase healthcare costs both for increased staffing needs, and to implement a system for handling cash (potentially large sums of cash) with lock boxes and safes, and add other increased security measures at multiple physical locations.

In addition, as written, HB 6088 also requires every vending or mechanized system to utilize cash. This would require, for example, a hospital to ensure that a snack vending machine that the hospital does not own necessarily takes cash as being within the bill’s description of “health care services and related fees.”

Finally, current law that mandates retail establishments take cash payment exempts parking from the mandate. That exemption should also apply to healthcare providers.

Thank you for your consideration of our position. For additional information, contact CHA Government Relations at (203) 294-7301.