Like many Rhode Islanders, we know firsthand the frustration of trying to secure primary care in our state. Both of us and members of our families have encountered the same obstacles that countless families have faced – practices that aren’t accepting new patients, appointment wait times stretching months into the future and the disheartening reality that basic health care has become increasingly difficult to access. 

 As we’ve heard from constituents and health care providers alike, Rhode Island’s primary care system is in crisis, with practices reporting long wait times, limited capacity, physicians leaving the state for better pay elsewhere, and increasing burnout among providers.

Without losing focus on the housing crisis – in response to which we passed a package of 10 new bills aimed at making housing more affordable – we worked to address the health care crisis in Rhode Island. This crisis demanded action now – not waiting for a study – and we’re proud that the General Assembly responded with critical investments and regulatory reform aimed at making health care more accessible and more affordable. 

Through the state budget, we made substantial investments in the providers who form the backbone of our health care system.

We allocated more than $40 million from all funds toward desperately needed Medicaid rate increases for primary care providers, whose reimbursement rates have lagged behind those in nearby states for too long.

Recognizing that primary care cannot function in isolation, we added $38 million for hospital reimbursement rates and direct support payments and committed an additional $12 million to increase reimbursement rates for nursing home staff.

We added funding to match federal dollars for a loan forgiveness program for primary care providers working in underserved communities, added funding to support family medicine residency programs at health centers, and required the administration to conduct a primary care rate review in 2026, ensuring our reimbursement strategies remain responsive to evolving needs. This budget makes critical investments to stabilize Rhode Island’s Medicaid, primary care, and health care systems as chaos and uncertainty looms in Washington, D.C. 

Recognizing that the high cost of prescription drugs represents a significant burden for Rhode Island families, we took action to make medications more affordable.

We passed comprehensive legislation protecting the federal 340B discount prescription program, which enables safety-net hospitals and community health centers serving high percentages of seniors and other patients struggling with high prescription costs to purchase medications at reduced prices and reinvest those savings into direct patient care services.

The legislation prohibits insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, and other payors from engaging in discriminatory practices against 340B entities, such as lowering reimbursements or requiring drugs to come from particular pharmacies. The legislation will help ensure the program can continue to protect the health care safety net that serves those who can least afford medical care. 

We also pursued regulatory reforms designed to eliminate bureaucratic barriers that delay necessary care and burden both patients and providers with unnecessary administrative obstacles.

We enacted a pilot program prohibiting insurers from requiring prior authorization for any medically necessary health care services ordered by primary care providers, including general internists, family physicians, pediatricians, geriatricians, OB-GYNs, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

For our seniors, we established new Medicare supplement consumer protections, including an annual open enrollment period for supplemental policies and a transition to community rating structures for Medicare supplement plans, and funded an expansion of a program to help Medicare beneficiaries with copays and deductibles. 

The General Assembly navigated one of the most challenging budget cycles in recent memory while never losing sight of our fundamental commitment to ensuring health care access for all Rhode Islanders. None of these critical reforms would have been possible without the hard work and collaboration of our colleagues in the House of Representatives and our partners in the Senate, including President Valarie Lawson and Majority Leader Frank Ciccone.

While we have made significant progress this year in confronting Rhode Island’s health care crisis through strategic investments and targeted regulatory reforms, we recognize that the work is far from complete. The challenges facing our health care system developed over many years and will require sustained commitment and continued innovation to fully address. Our work this year provides a strong foundation for building a health care system that truly works for all Rhode Islanders. 

K. Joseph Shekarchi, a Democrat from District 23 in Warwick, is Speaker of the House. Christopher R. Blazejewski, a Democrat from District 2 in Providence, is House Majority Leader.