Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1422 revises provisions relating to short-term limited duration insurance policies and the regulation of association health plans (AHPs). The bill passed its last committee on April 23, 2019 and will next be heard on the Senate floor. Senate Democrats questioned the bill sponsor, Sen. Gruters (R), about the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 7078 is a health care omnibus bill. It is a compilation of many healthcare issues, including a few health insurance related issues, and began as a committee bill by the Senate Health Policy Committee. It was approved by its last committee on April 18, 2019 with a…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate shared savings program bill, SB 524, was amended in its last committee on April 18, 2019 to add formulary management for the state group health insurance program. Some health insurers and HMOs may find the provision requiring formulary management concerning as it could set a precedent for…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel In an interesting turn of events, the Senate amended their telehealth bill (SB 1526) on April 18, 2019 to add back in payment parity, a provision they removed just two days prior. Other, more minor changes, were made in the amendment adopted on April 18, 2019. Sen. Harrell (R),…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1520 expands direct primary care. The bill changes all statutory references of “direct primary care” to “direct health care” which authorizes direct care to be for medical services, including dental services, that are not only primary care. It maintains current law that direct health care agreements are not…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 935 dealing with price transparency in health care contracts with providers is a priority of the House for the 2019 Session. The House passed the bill on April 17, 2019 by a vote of 114-0 after the House heard the bill for the second time and waived the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill dealing with referrals from health care providers to hospitals and out of network providers passed the House on April 17, 2019 with a vote of 114-0. After the bill was read a second time on April 17, 2019, the House waived the rules to hear the bill…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel With the bill sponsoring saying the telehealth bill was still a “work in progress,” SB 1526 passed its second committee on April 16, 2019. A strike all amendment was adopted that made significant changes to bring the bill very close to the House telehealth bill (HB 23) that has…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 626, the bill to equalize payment for long term care insolvencies by the Florida Life & Health Guaranty Association (FLAHIGA), passed its last Senate committee on April 11, 2019. It was not amended. The bill is patterned on the NAIC model act for funding long-term care insolvencies…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Two bills expanding the scope of practice for pharmacists passed the House on April 11, 2019. There was no debate on either bill. They will now be sent to the Senate for consideration and approval. The Senate has not heard any of their pharmacist expanded scope of practice…