Legislative Update

Apologies for not posting more frequently this week, there is a family emergency among everything else going on and although I’m making sure that our issues at the Statehouse are being taken care of – my postings have been somewhat neglected.  Please bear with me during this time.

Recoupments

After realizing that we had enough votes to pass our bill despite the insurance and business groups in opposition, we were asked if we would consider a new amendment.  Previously Blue Cross/Blue Shield had wanted the ability to exempt themselves from any timelines we imposed when they “suspected misrepresentation.”  This was something we obviously could not agree too, but in the final moments before the committee vote the Blues offered a new suggestion.  What if they were able to hire a third party, independent arbitrator like those used by the Dept. of Insurance?  The ICS and the other provider groups found this agreeable.  We drafted the amendment and successfully passed our bill through the Senate at 11:45 am on May 20th.  It has to go back to the House for agreement, but considering it already passed the House once and now it passed the Senate 46-0, we shouldn’t have much problem.

Workers’ Comp

There were rumors that the businesses have struck a conceptual agreement, and we were expecting to see potential language a few days ago.  That language never came.  Rumor has it that they reached an agreement with the Governor – but not the House or Senate.  Getting the votes in the House or Senate has to be done first.  Long story short – there’s still no language.  The only thing we have are rumors – and those rumors change on a daily basis.  We will let you know as soon as we know something concrete.