PROVIDENCE – General Assembly leaders in both chambers said protecting the state's health care system will be the top priority in the 2026 legislative session.
House and Senate leaders still want to pursue new legislation on affordable housing and education, but actions at the federal level have made health care the No. 1 issue facing the state.
While he has not ruled out a run for governor, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi on Wednesday said he is looking at additional legislation that builds upon the dozens of laws that have been enacted in the previous three years aimed at addressing the housing crisis, such as enabling legislation to ease the rules on the number of staircases that are required for new home builds, or increasing the number of units allowed per residential property.
Shekarchi told Providence Business News that cuts to Medicaid and the end of subsidies in the Affordable Care Act that lower the cost of their health insurance means that thousands of Rhode Island residents face the prospect of losing coverage, while those who retain coverage in some form may “have to pay dramatically more,” he said.
Plus, the state’s overburdened healthcare system could face another blow if Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital close. The hospitals are owned by the bankrupt Prospect Medical Holdings and The Centurion Foundation is trying to secure enough funding to close a sale.
Shekarchi said the hospitals’ closures would have devastating impacts on the state’s health care system. Though he would be open to providing more state funding to help a potential buyer, it is too soon to say what state leaders can do.
“There are already people waiting in the emergency rooms for several hours,” he said. “But the role of state government is very minimal at this point. There might be a time where the state will have to step in and prop these systems up, so they don't close.”
Senate Majority Leader Valerie J. Lawson, D-East Providence, agrees, and said the state may need to step in and buy the hospitals outright.
"It's vital that they remain in Rhode Island," she said.
Other Senate considerations are bills to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, recruit health care workers with debt-relief incentives, or eliminating additional prior authorization requirements for certain medical services ordered by primary care providers.
Last year the assembly approved new laws aimed at addressing the shortage of primary care physicians. But more legislation may be needed, said Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone, who still receives calls from constituents struggling to find a doctor and doctors in private practice struggling to keep their doors open.
"It's still a challenge we need to address," he said.
To raise the revenues, Shekarchi is open to potential income tax hikes but said he has concerns with a specific proposal being floated by Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s to eliminate taxes on all Social Security income, which now only apply for residents making more than $107,000 a year. The reform is estimated to cost the state $50 million annually, according to the Economic Progress Institute.
With a projected deficit more than $300 for fiscal 2026, Shekarchi said “everything is on the table," but said the state can ill-afford to take $50 million in revenue off the books.
Lawson said tax and spending priorities will be driven in part by Washington, D.C.
"We currently have a [budget] hole," she said. everything needs to be under consideration.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com
