Welcome to Benefitshealthplan.com - Information on Oregon group health insurance

Five states--Arkansas, Nevada. North Dakota, Oregon, and Texas--have pursued significant interim activities that have important implications with respect to health insurance access and costs. Each of these states convenes its legislative sessions biennially.

Arkansas. Arkansas Health Insurance and Prescription Drugs interim committee focused its activities on finding ways to reduce the cost of healthcare premiums. Senator Jerry Bookout (D), the committee chair, has indicated that legislation will be introduced in 2005 to create charity clinics and health savings accounts (HSAs).

Senator Bookout says the state hospital industry supports the charity clinic proposal because it reduces healthcare costs by shifting the uninsured from expensive emergency departments to the lower cost clinics. One cost saving proposal for the clinics is to distribute unused medications from nursing homes and pharmacies to the indigent population.

With HSAs, eligible employees can put money into tax exempt accounts to help offset out of pocket expenses. Any unused money can be rolled over at the end of the year.

Nevada. Nevada's Subcommittee on Health Insurance Expansion has indicated it endorses a proposal to apply for a federal Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability waiver. The waiver would allow the state to:

* Establish a small business insurance program, providing a premium subsidy of $100 per person per month for employees and their spouses with family incomes below 900 percent of the federal poverty level

* Expand health insurance coverage for low-income pregnant women

* Establish a program for the medically needy

North Dakota. A bill filed for introduction during North Dakota's legislative session would expand participation in the state's uniform group insurance program. The bill would permit permanent and temporary private employees, along with other uninsured citizens of the state, to participate in the Public Employees Retirement System health insurance plan. Participating employees would be required to pay a monthly premium to the state's Retirement Board.

The state's interim Employee Benefits Program Committee, however, has indicated that the Retirement Board has reservations about the bill and does not support the current draft. That opposition would limit the legislation's chances for passage during the 2005 session.

Oregon. In 2003, the Oregon legislature passed HB 2537 directing the Insurance Pool Governing Board to increase access to health insurance and health care by providing affordable health benefit plans for small employers. During the interim, the board worked to develop and implement such a plan, called the Alternative Group Plan, and further proposed the Children's Group Plan.

The Alternative Group Plan will exclude mandated benefits that would pay for treatment of chemical dependency, diabetes self-management programs, prescriptions for particular drugs, maxillofacial prosthetic services, and treatment of inborn errors of metabolism.

The Children's Group Plan would incorporate a lower deductible and higher benefit structure than the Alternative Group Plan and could be sold either with the Alternative Group Plan or as a stand alone product. It would include all man dated benefits. The target date for enrollment in the plans would be March 1, 2005.

Texas. During the interim, the Texas House Committee on Insurance was charged with studying the implementation and effect of SB 10 and SB 541, bills passed during the 2003 legislative session that address the costs and availability of health insurance. SB 10 calls for the creation of health group cooperatives to purchase employer health benefits plans. It allows two or more small and large employers to participate. SB 541 authorizes insurers and HMOs to issue plans that do not include state-mandated health benefits.

As the 2005 state legislative season approaches, legislators in every state will begin to frame their healthcare agendas. Given the tight budgets and economic challenges facing the states, healthcare financial leaders need to be cognizant of their states pending healthcare-related legislative activities, as these activities could profoundly affect health insurance access and costs.

This report was prepared for hfm by Chris Bandoli, health insurance analyst, Policy Research Department, NETSCAN iPublishing's Health Policy Tracking Service (HPTS). For more information about HPTS, go to www.hpts.org/info.