Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1556 and HB 1179 prohibit specified entities from denying, refusing to allocate, or lowering an individual’s priority for organ transplant medical services solely on the basis of an individual’s intellectual or developmental disability. The insurance part of the bills prohibits insurers, nonprofit health care service plans, and health…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Health and Human Services Committee approved HB 955 during its meeting on February 12, 2020 without amendment. This was the last committee stop for the bill so it will now be heard on the House floor when set by the Rules Committee. The bill curtails physician referrals…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate advanced their bill prohibiting balance billing by air ambulances during the Senate Health Policy meeting on February 11, 2020 despite some Senators expressing concerns about the bill and not guaranteeing their vote for the bill as the bill moves through the legislative process. Under current law,…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1094 expands the scope of practice for consultant pharmacists. A similar bill passed the House last year, but died in the Senate when it was never heard in committee, presumably because the doctors opposed the bill. This year, the pharmacists and doctors have worked together and have a…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House moved their PBM regulation bill (link to HB 7045) to the last committee on February 11, 2020 when House Appropriations approved the bill. The bill was not amended. House PBM Bill – HB 7045 The House bill deals with reporting on drug rebates, administrative fees, and…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill mandating health insurance coverage for children with hearing loss from birth through 21 years of age passed its second committee on February 11, 2020 when the Senate Health Policy Committee approved SB 1006 with one amendment that did not change the intent of the bill, but cleaned…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 11, 2020, the Senate Health Policy Committee approved a strike all amendment (715644) to the newborn eye care mandate bill to remove the health insurance coverage mandate and instead limit the bill to provision of a pamphlet on eye and vision disorders. The original version of the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 6, 2020, the House air ambulance bill cleared its last committee of reference and will now be heard on the House floor when set by the Rules Committee. Under current law, air ambulances are still allowed to balance bill consumers. In contrast, balance billing by out-of-network health…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 599 by Rep. Anna Maria Rodriguez (R) expands the scope of practice for consultant pharmacists. A similar bill passed the House last year, but died in the Senate when it was never heard in committee. This year’s consultant pharmacist bill was approved by its last committee of reference…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1279 tweaks the health insurance shared savings program. It passed its second committee on February 4, 2020 and is now in its last committee. The bill was not amended. The shared savings program was created in 2019 as a voluntary program for health insurers and HMOs to provide…