Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 322 by Sen. Simpson (R) related to health insurance preexisting conditions passed the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on February 19, 2019 with a strike all amendment that kept the substance of the bill intact, but made some technical changes to it. The amended bill generally requires health…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Mayfield (R) has again filed a frozen formulary/continuity of prescription care bill. SB 1180 is substantially the same as her bill last year that died in its first committee after Sen. Mayfield refused to make changes to the bill to accommodate health insurers. SB 1180 prohibits individual…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Bills have now been filed in both chambers to prospectively handle long-term care insolvencies by the Florida Life and Health Guaranty Association (FLAHIGA). HB 673 was filed February 6th and SB 626 was filed January 31st. Both bills are sponsored by seasoned Republican legislators, so we expect the bills will…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Mayfield (R) filed SB 650 last Friday. The bill is substantially similar to the Senate step therapy and prior authorization bills filed in prior legislative sessions. This is the first year Sen. Mayfield is sponsoring the bill due to the resignation of Sen. Steube, last year’s bill sponsor, who…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Brandes (R), filed SB 626 on January 31, 2019. The bill is the agreement between the Florida Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association (FLAHIGA) and the Florida Association of Health Plans (FAHP) on how to deal with long-term care insolvencies on a prospective basis. The FIC Life and…
By: Greenberg Traurig The House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee met on January 23, 2019 to discuss Medicaid Reimbursement for hospitals and nursing homes as well at Medicaid Managed Care. The meeting packet can be found here. Following are notes from the meeting presentations: Overview by Beth Kidder, Deputy Secretary for Medicaid Historical perspective Historically set…
By: Greenberg Traurig The House Health Market Reform Subcommittee met on January 23, 2019 to hear a presentation from the Agency for Health Care Administration on the implementation of HB 1175, Transparency in Healthcare (2011) as well as a presentation from the Office of Insurance Regulation regarding the Florida Health Insurance Market. The meeting packet…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On January 15, 2019, Rep. Santiago (R) filed HB 271, a comprehensive bill on numerous pharmacy issues, prior authorization, and fail first/step therapy protocols. Many of the provisions of the bill are likely to be problematic for health insurers, HMOs, and PBMs. Some of the major components of…
By: Greenberg Traurig The House Health Market Reform Subcommittee met on January 10, 2019 to discuss the overview of the roles and responsibilities of the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and a brief overview of the Medicaid program. The meeting packet can be found here. AHCA Overview Deputy Secretary of the Division…