By GARRETT BERGQUIST
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Medical debt and maternal postpartum mental health are among the topics state lawmakers will tackle this summer, legislative leaders announced Wednesday.
The Indiana Legislative Council, composed of the top-ranking Republicans and Democrats from both chambers, approved the legislature’s summer study committee topics Wednesday morning. Chief among them is possible solutions to medical debt, including caps on monthly payments, limits on collections or wage garnishments related to medical debt or new rules involving hospital billing. The Courts and Judiciary study committee will tackle that issue.
The Public Health, Behavioral Health and Human Services study committee will have an especially full plate. That panel will look into requiring the Indiana Department of Education to establish a water safety curriculum. It also will investigate ways to integrate maternal postpartum mental health screenings into pediatric visits and to ensure women who use Medicaid schedule a postpartum checkup no more than 60 days after giving birth.
Other topics include an ongoing review of potential governmental uses and risks of artificial intelligence, K-12 teacher salaries, pollution from improperly discarded cables and trends in incarceration and criminal behavior.
Legislative study committees meet throughout the summer and fall to take testimony and review documents related to assigned topics. They then produce recommendations for legislation in the following session. Committees include a mix of lawmakers and subject matter experts such as agency heads.
Senate President pro tempore Rod Bray (R-Martinsville) said members of the General Assembly will be assigned to committees in the coming days, with the first hearings coming later this summer.
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/indiana-medical-debt-study-committee.