Big day in Sacramento today. And with 8/31 deadlines looming, we will likely see more activity.
California AB 1602 (Perez) and SB 900 (Alquist) has passed and is awaiting the Governor's signature to make it law. AB 1602 sets up the California health insurance exchange. I expect this to be signed as Gov Schwarzenegger indicated earlier this year that he wants the exchange model set up before he leaves office.
SB 900 sets up the exchanges, and AB 1602 which is a companion bill delineates the specific duties of the exchange.
AB 1825 has passed the Senate and now goes back to the Assembly for final action. AB 1825 requires mandatory maternity benefits on all health plans sold in the individual market.
AB 2244 prohibits insurers from refusing coverage to children simply because they have a pre-existing condition. AB 2244 also goes back to Assembly now for final action.
Other Bills to watch:
SB 890 (Alquist) - sets requirement for health plans to offer only 5 plan designs either inside or outside of the exchange. Gold, Silver, Bronze, Platinum and Catastrophic.
AB 2345 (De La Torre) - prevents insurers from charging an additional co-pay for cancer screenings and other types of preventive care
AB 2042 - (Feuer) - prohibits insurers from raising premiums more than once per year.
California Health Insurance Legislative News (Lots of it!)
CA Health Bills Up Against Deadline
There are currently four bills in process in Sacramento which need to be passed or rejected by August 31, 2010. If they are not passed or rejected, the bills will die.
The following are the applicable bills:
AB 2578 (D. Jones) - Requires approval from state regulators for increases in health coverage premiums.
SB 1163 (M Leno) - Would require insurers to justify denials of coverage and premium increases.
SB 900 (E. Alquist) and AB 1602 (J. Perez) - Companion bills would establish health insurance exchanges in California to comply with PPACA.
CA Temporary Federal Risk Pool Approved
Yesterday, two legislative bills were passed in Sacramento which will allow for California to run a temporary risk pool using federal funds (under PPACA). The risk pool will provide coverage on a temporary basis until January, 2014.
The two bills, SB 227 (Alquist) and AB 1887 (Beall) will provide both parity for mental health and substance abuse (AB 1887) as well as the temporary risk pool for uninsurable California residents (SB 227). Passage of SB 227 was predicated on prior passage of AB 1887.
California will receive $761,000,000 of federal funds for the risk pool. State sources indicate that the risk pool will not use any California state funds.
Details including qualification requirements, insurance plans (will be PPO style) and rates should be forthcoming from the MRMIB. MRMIP will run the program alongside the state major risk program.
CA SB 890 (Alquist)
There is a current California Senate Bill (SB 890) which I find intriguing.
SB 890 is currently under consideration and, if implemented ahead of full reform, would drastically change the landscape of individual health insurance in California.
Essentially, the bill would require all health insurance companies to offer a "standardized" portfolio of plans which would be limited to 5 PPO plans and 5 HMO plans. Any deviation from these 5 plan designs would be illegal to sell after July 2011. These plan designs generally mirror the design concept of the plans which will be available in the exchanges by 2014.
The plans would be designated as "Gold, Silver, Bronze, Platinum and Catastrophic". They would have a proscribed benefit level and include maternity coverage. By the way, there is another bill out there right now which would require all individual health plans to include maternity benefits again. No more non-maternity plans.
The ten standardized plans (5 PPO 5 HMO) would also function similarly to Medicare Supplements in terms of both standardization and the ability to move from one plan to another. Under SB 890, a subscriber may, at each policy anniversary, move to a plan of equal or lesser coverage on a guaranteed-issue basis. This is very similar to the California "birthday rule" for Medicare Supplement plans.
Another interesting note included in the text of SB 890 is the medical loss ratio information for California's health insurance carriers. Remember, on Jan 1 2011 carriers must comply with the new healthcare reform MLR requirements of 80% for individual and small group and 85% for large group.
You can read the text of SB 890 here
California Moving Forward With Reform
According to a Mercury News article today, the California Legislature is moving forward with several reform bills in the coming weeks.
The legislation, which may include as many as 20 bills, would, amongst other things, create state health insurance exchanges, do away with denials for pre-existing health conditions, extend coverage to children and uncap benefit limits on health plans.
Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated that he wants many reforms in place in California before January, 2011, including health insurance exchanges.
The two most major bills are SB 900 (Alquist) and AB 1602 (Perez). Both bills would create a California insurance exchange which would operate similar to the Massachusetts Connector program.
It appears that California intends to at least try to get systems and programs in place well ahead of the final dates set by federal reform laws.
Current Version of SB 900
Current Version of AB 1602