Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) bill (HB 351) will be voted on by the full House on March 1, 2018. We expect the bill will pass. On February 28, 2018, the bill was heard on the House floor on special order and rolled to third reading. The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 80 defines and establishes parameters on direct primary care. The bill had been sitting in its last committee, Appropriations, since October 2017, but was finally heard and passed by that committee on February 27, 2018 without amendment. The bill will now be heard on the Senate floor. The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 21, 2018, when the Senate was set to vote on SB 162, the bill sponsor asked to postpone the bill. No explanation for the postponement was given. The Senate put the bill on the calendar again for a vote on February 27, 2018, but the bill…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate telehealth bill, SB 280, unanimously passed its last committee on February 21, 2018 without amendment. The bill will now be heard on the Senate floor when set by the Special Order Calendar Group. The House telehealth bill, HB 793, has not been heard in its first committee…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate mental health parity bill passed its second committee on February 21, 2018 with one amendment giving funding to the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) for implementation of the bill. The bill has one committee left. The House companion bill, HB 955, has not been heard in its…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The full Senate was set to vote on SB 162 on February 21, 2018, but the bill sponsor asked to postpone the bill. No explanation for the postponement was given. It is unknown when the bill will come up again on the floor. Starting January 1, 2019, the bill…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Compromise language agreed to by the health insurance industry, the pharmacy industry and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) was added to the Senate PBM bill (SB 1494) on February 20, 2018 at its second committee stop. The bill has one committee left. Representatives of the pharmacy industry and health…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Compromise language agreed to by the health insurance industry, the pharmacy industry and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) was added to the House PBM bill at its last committee stop. The agreed upon language was added to HB 351 via a strike all amendment (#480683) adopted by the House…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate telehealth bill, SB 280, unanimously passed its third committee on February 14, 2018 without amendment. The bill has one committee stop left. The House telehealth bill, HB 793, has not been heard in its first committee and that committee is not scheduled to meet again this Session. …
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House retroactive denial of claims bill, HB 217, passed its second committee on February 14, 2018 with a vote of 21-6. The vote count in the first committee was 10-2. Importantly, some of the “no” votes were from members of the House leadership team, including Rep. Cummings…