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05/02/2008
Legislative Update
On March 13, 2008, the 60-day legislative session adjourned. Despite the short session, legislators considered hundreds of bills addressing a number of issues, including health care, housing, and transportation initiatives. Now that the session has ended, legislators will turn their attention to the November elections. One-half of the Senate, the entire membership of the House, the governor, and the Office of Insurance Commissioner (OIC) are all up for re-election.
The following is a list of bills that Asuris monitored during the legislative session:
Health Care Bills of Interest Signed by the Governor
Individual Market Regulation (SB 5261). This law specifies that Individual rate actions not disapproved by the OIC within 60 days are "deemed approved," and also includes a sliding scale loss ratio requirement based on a carrier's declination rate in the Individual market. It will apply to rates effective "on or after July 1, 2008."
Health Insurance Partnership (HIP) (HB 2537). The 2007 legislature set up a Health Insurance Partnership that is similar to the Massachusetts "Connector" although much smaller since it is limited, for now, to a small-group subsidized product for low-income employees. This year's technical fix bill enacted changes to the program that include: allowing "low-wage" small employers to participate, including up to five plan offerings; and allocating money for HIP administration ($750,000 for initial public subsidies, $4.6 million for administrative expenses).
Chiropractor Equal Pay (SB 5596). This law specifies that carriers may not pay a chiropractor less than any other provider for a rehabilitative service or office visit. The governor vetoed Section 3 of the bill, which would have required that the OIC conduct a study on the effect of this bill on the cost and utilization of these health care services. We lobbied against this bill and submitted a veto request letter to the governor.
Citizen's Work Group on Health Care (SB 6333). This law authorizes the legislature to contract with an actuarial consultant to study several health reform proposals and creates a Citizen's Work Group to review the consultant's evaluation through a public engagement process. This law could become a legislatively mandated campaign in favor of a 2009 ballot initiative that seeks voter approval of one of these reform ideas.
Insurance Producer Technical Bill (SB 6591). During the 2007 legislative session, major legislation was enacted that, among other substantive licensing requirements, changed the terms "agent," "broker" and "solicitor" to the term "producers." The 2008 bill changes statutory references of those obsolete terms to the term "producers." The OIC has also introduced a regulation to make these technical, non-substantive changes to the Washington Administrative Code.
Health Care Bills of Interest that Died
Health Care Reform. Several comprehensive health care reform bills were introduced this year, although none passed. These include: 1) Commissioner Kreidler's bill (HB 2640/SB 6603) to cover all Washingtonians with a catastrophic plan and also provide preventive care; 2) Sen. Karen Keiser's bill (SB 6221), based on a "Healthy Wisconsin" proposal, to cover all Washingtonians with a rich benefit plan paid for by a payroll tax (9-12% on employers and 2-4% on employees); and 3) Sen. Cheryl Pflug's plan (SB 6574) to form an Exchange or Connector mechanism to offer private sector products. We expect that these bills will be re-introduced next year; therefore, we will be carefully analyzing these proposals before the 2009 session.
Association Health Plan Data (SB 6365). This legislation would have allowed the OIC to request new data on Association Health Plans. It singled out association plans, and it would have given the OIC additional statutory authority to request information on these plans. This bill died in Committee.
If you have questions, please talk to your Asuris Sales contact.
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