Senate removes Uninsured Initiatives and Autism Mandate from Budget Bill

 

Yesterday, the Ohio Senate Finance & Financial Institutions Committee passed H.B.1, the biennial budget bill.  The bill is scheduled for a Senate floor vote today.  Of particular interest to OAHU is the removal of the Autism coverage mandate legislation and the three proposals by Governor Strickland to reduce the number of uninsured in Ohio.  As we have previously reported, OAHU Legislative Committee met with Mary Jo Hudson, Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance, a couple of months ago to discuss the Administration’s uninsured proposals. Here are the three proposals that the Senate Republicans removed from the budget bill:

 

Strickland Administration projected that 110,000 more Ohioans would become insured as follows:

1.      52,000 more insured by capping individual market open enrollment rates (for high risk individuals) to 150% of the base rate (which is projected to decrease open enrollment rates by 50-70%); individual market rates are projected to increase 5.5%.

2.      21,000 more insured by expanding dependent coverage up to age 29 and extending the state tax deduction for employer coverage to all family and dependent coverage.

3.      37,000 more insured by requiring employers to offer employees the opportunity to purchase coverage with pre-tax dollars through Section 125 cafeteria plans, saving up to 40% off the cost of coverage.

 

The three proposals were removed in the Senate for the following reasons:

1.      Open Enrollment – A concern that the standard individual market would be negatively impacted.

2.      Coverage to age 29 – A concern that high risk individuals would be the ones obtaining insurance through their parent’s group plan which could negatively affect small employers’ group rates.

3.      Employer mandate to offer Section 125 plans – Concerns were raised by some employers relating to the use of Section 125 plans to assist employees in buying health insurance in the individual market.

 

After the budget is passed in the Senate today, the House will then likely fail to concur in the Senate’s changes and then the bill will go to a Joint House-Senate Conference Committee.  The Conference Committee will have until the end of June to work out their differences.  While the autism mandate and the uninsured proposals were removed in the Senate, it still remains to be seen if they will be included in the final budget bill in some form.

 

 

OAHU PAC Kicks-Off 2009 Fundraising Drive

 

In the next couple of days you will be emailed information about OAHU Political Action Committee’s 2009 Annual Fundraising Drive.  As you are well aware, the health insurance agent community has a lot at stake as health care reforms are being actively debated at both the state and national levels. Some groups are even challenging the agent’s role in the health insurance delivery process.

 

So now is not the time to sit on the sidelines and “hope” things turn out alright.  When you receive the OAHU PAC email please consider doing your part to assist OAHU to advocate as effectively as possible to help preserve your livelihood by making a contribution.

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