House Insurance & Commerce Committee
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (16)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SB218
· 5 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB218”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB462
· 5 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB462”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1672
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB1672”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB271
· 2 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “…going to run that bill? Okay, if not, we'll pass over that. Senate Bill 271 is the next item. Representative Wardlaw, you are recognize…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB339
· 2 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “to run Senate Bill 339. It's an act for the State Insurance Department's General O…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1419
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Okay, committee, the next item on our agenda is House Bill 1419 by Representative Burris. Representative Burris, or is ther…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1508
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…l. Members of the committee, the next item on our agenda is House Bill 1508. Pass. Okay, we're going to pass over that one. The next bi…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1510
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…. Okay, we're going to pass over that one. The next bill is House Bill 1510 by Mr. Whitaker. He has asked us to pass over that as well.…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1529
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…by Mr. Whitaker. He has asked us to pass over that as well. House Bill 1529 by Representative Catlett. Representative Catlett is not he…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1556
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Okay, we've got an amendment to that. Next bill is House Bill 1556 by Representative Nichols. Representative Nichols, are you…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1572
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…Committee and will be coming down, so we'll pass over that. House Bill 1572 by Representative Kerr, we're going to pass over that as we…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1583
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…Representative Barnett, I don't see Representative Barnett. House Bill 1583 by Representative Barnett. I don't see him. House Bill 1635…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1635
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…House Bill 1583 by Representative Barnett. I don't see him. House Bill 1635 by Representative Ritchie. I don't see Representative Ritch…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB263
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…k you. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Okay. Next on our agenda is Senate Bill 263 by Representative Jeremy Hutchison. Is there anyone here to…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB277
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Senate Bill 277 by Senator Dismang. Is there anyone here to present that? O…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB377
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…enator Dismang. Is there anyone here to present that? Okay, Senate Bill 377 by Senator Eddie Joe Williams. Is there anyone here to pres…”
|
Pre-2017 bill |
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Speaker 1
0:00
Chair of that, so you're recognized, Representative Wren.
Chair
Unverified
0:16
Okay, Vice Chairman Dell, members of the committee. I'm here
to run Senate Bill 339. It's an act for the State Insurance Department's General Omnus Bill. I've got two gentlemen here to present today, and at this time, I'd like for them to introduce yourself.
Speaker 9
0:35
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm Jay Bradford, insurance commissioner, and this is Bill Laisley on my left, who is our general counsel for the department. Give you a little background on the OMLIS bill. This bill is totally non-controversial. But we start working on it in the fall, and people who are regulated by the department, be it agents, companies, consumers, if there are technical corrections needed in the law,
we will put them in this ominous bill. Any questionable issue is not put in this bill. And so we had typically asked the two chairs to handle it, and as I said, occasionally Maybe someone will want to put something in this bill that might even have a tinge of question in it. We don't do that. We're glad to support a second or third bill on that subject, and so I just want to give
you the background. Bill Laisley, who's put this together, will go over the details of the bill, and we'll attempt to answer any questions that you might
Speaker 11
1:48
have. Bill Laisley, if you would turn your mic up.
Speaker 13
1:52
There it is. Bill Lacy on the General Counsel. This is a fairly, well, it's not too long this time. As you all are aware, a lot of code revision and people like that run bills on specific titles of the code to clean up errors and things that have risen.
This is ours due to the technical nature of insurance. We've always run our own technical corrections bill to fix some things. There are several sections in here. I can explain each of the sections. you wish or do you want to just ask me questions that's up to you does the committee have any questions I recognize representative rice
Representative Terry Rice
Unverified
2:46
without somebody asking a question but I'm and I glanced over some of this last Going to the bill on page 5, which mainly, I guess, Section 9, shows my line 20 there. We're struck about all of that. Can you touch on that? I haven't had time to over all
Chair
Unverified
3:06
of that. Representative Rice, if it's okay, I'm going to have Mr. Lacey address those. Thank you. Sure.
Speaker 13
3:16
Section 9. This is in response to the Federal Non-Admitted Reinsurance Reform Act of 2010.
It basically preempted this part of the code and required us to eliminate it. Okay. Well, sometimes that if I
Representative Terry Rice
Unverified
3:29
don't ask questions, sometimes there's more get eliminated than I
don't understand all that, but it's a pretty good chunk of it. It is. So thank you for the next question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Sure. any other questions
Speaker 1
3:45
from the committee if not we'll go to the audience or is
there anyone here that won't speak against the bill anyone want to speak for the bill okay I'm back to the wishes of the committee got a do pass from
Speaker 22
4:09
representative Ward law all those in favor I opposed no your bills passed representative rain thank you mr. chairman and members of the committee
Chair
Unverified
4:39
Okay, committee, the next item on our agenda is House Bill 1419 by Representative Burris. Representative Burris, or is there anyone here that's going to run that bill? Okay, if not, we'll pass over that. Senate Bill 271 is the next item. Representative Wardlaw, you are recognized to run Senate Bill 271. If you would, sir, recognize yourself.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
5:09
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I got with me today the folks from the electric
Speaker 29
5:24
co-op. I'll let them introduce their self. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm Steve Williams. I'm the
Speaker 30
5:31
assistant general counsel for Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation. Forrest Kessinger, director of rates and forecasting, also current director of member planning, Arkansas Electric Co-operatives.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
5:41
Here's a committee. What this bill does is it does away with a permitting process called a CCN. And what that actually is is like when they go in to put in a new transmission system or a new line, right now they have to go before the public service commission and receive that. The other electrical companies that are privately owned or privately traded do not have to do that. And all this does is put everybody on an even playing field. The Public Service Commission is fine with the bill,
and the other electric companies are also fine with the bill. Take any questions. Are there any questions
Chair
Unverified
6:20
of the committee? Seeing none, is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak for or against this bill? Okay, seeing none, what's the pleasure of the committee? Representative Rice, you're recognized. Motion to pass. That's a proper motion. All those in favor, say aye. Opposed? Your bill passes.
Thank you. Gentlemen, thank you for being here as well. Members of the committee, the next item on our agenda is House Bill 1508. Pass. Okay, we're going to pass over that one. The next bill is House Bill 1510 by Mr. Whitaker. He has asked us to pass over that as well. House Bill 1529 by Representative Catlett. Representative Catlett is not here, so we're going to pass over that bill as well.
Okay, we've got an amendment to that. Next bill is House Bill 1556 by Representative Nichols. Representative Nichols, are you here to? Okay. Okay, Senate Bill 218, Senator Irvin had asked us to run that today. She is in the Senate Ed Committee and will be coming down, so we'll pass over that. House Bill 1572 by Representative Kerr, we're going to pass over that as well.
1582 by Representative Barnett, I don't see Representative Barnett. House Bill 1583 by Representative Barnett. I don't see him. House Bill 1635 by Representative Ritchie. I don't see Representative Ritchie. Oh, okay. And then next bill is House Bill 1672 by Representative Ferguson, and Representative Ferguson is here, so at this
time I'd like to recognize Representative Ferguson to present your bill.
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
8:22
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is really a simple bill, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Delta Dental, who provide dental insurance, are in agreement with it, and we actually took some of the language directly from them. All it says is that if a dental insurance company denies a claim, that if it's based on medical necessity, then a dentist has to review it. This doesn't mean like the clerks and people who initially deny the claim.
This is just if they deny it for medical reasons. From a dental aspect, a medical reason might be if we send in an X-ray in a dental claim and they deny a crown, then a dentist might look at it. If you broke a cusp off a tooth, they might say, oh, we think it just needed a filling. We just want a dentist to be able to look at it and verify that the patient did need a crown and not a filling. or if they have, like they have periodontal disease, sometimes based on the bone loss and the inflammation and gum recession,
sometimes they might say, we think you should have done periodontal scaling and the dentist did periosurgery. So it's those kind of claim things that we think those medical decisions should be reviewed by a dentist and not just an insurance clerk. Okay. Are
Chair
Unverified
9:46
there any questions to the committee? Representative Love, you're recognized for a
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
9:54
question, sir. Thank you, Mr. Scheer. I believe Representative Ferguson answered it. So as of right now, dental dentists are not reviewing?
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
10:03
Not with all insurance companies. Delta Dental, they do, and that's kind of where we took the language from. Yeah, but not all carriers. Okay,
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
10:13
and so you're just making things uniform? Right, right. Okay, thank you, Representative Ferguson. Motion
Chair
Unverified
10:17
at a proper time. Okay. That's a proper motion. I've got one more question of the committee at this point. Representative Viviano,
you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Ferguson, these dentists that are reviewing, who are they employed by? By
Speaker 39
10:33
the insurance company as a consultant, usually.
Okay, so they're denying the claim and referring it to their own employees, of my understanding? What now? You said they're employed by the carriers, right? Right. The dentist that reviews, first you deny the claim.
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
10:51
Well, usually the first analogist comes from the insurance department. And then we're just asking that the claim also, if it's a medical necessity reason, that it be reviewed by a dentist. And those consultants are hired by insurance companies. Okay.
So those, they are hired by the insurance company.
Right. Okay. Okay. Interesting. All right. Thank you. Thank you,
Chair
Unverified
11:12
Representative Viviano. Are you finished? Are there any other questions, the committee? Okay. Seeing none, I'm going to go to the audience. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak for or
against this bill? Okay. Seeing none, are you closed for your bill, or would you like to close? No, that's fine. Thank you. Okay. Representative Love, you are recognized for
a motion. Recommend due pass. Okay. That's a proper motion. We have a motion of due pass on House Bill 1672.
All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Representative Ferguson, you have passed your bill. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Okay. Next on our agenda is Senate Bill 263 by Representative Jeremy Hutchison. Is there anyone here to present that bill? Okay. Seeing none, committee? Okay. Oh, yes, we do. We've got a long agenda.
Senate Bill 277 by Senator Dismang. Is there anyone here to present that? Okay, Senate Bill 377 by Senator Eddie Joe Williams. Is there anyone here to present that? Okay, we'll pass over that. Senate Bill 462. Okay, we are going to recognize Representative Perry to present Senate Bill 462. Representative Perry, if you would recognize yourself and anyone you've got with you.
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
12:44
Thank you, Ms. Chairman of the Committee. I'm Mark Perry, and this is Karen Tierney. She's with the Arkansas Securities Department. We're working on Senate Bill 462 for Senator Dismang, and what it does is clarifies some language with the Cemetery Act where perpetually maintains cemeteries. And I'll entertain any questions or I'll highlight part of what it is
or Karen's here to help as well. Are there any
Chair
Unverified
13:20
questions of the committee? Okay, seeing none, is there anyone in the audience I'd like to speak for or against this bill? Okay, seeing none, would you like to close for your bill, Representative Perry? We're closed. Okay. Do we have a motion? Okay, Representative Viviano, you're recognized for a motion. do pass okay committee we have a motion of do pass on senate bill 462 all those in favor say aye
opposed representative Perry you pass senate bill 462 thank you miss Terry thank you for being here as well okay at this time I see no other bills we do have representative Barnett here representative Barnett you have two bills on our agenda do you wish to present those today I'd like to pass until
Speaker 25
14:08
Friday or early next week. We're still vetting them with some industry people. So if
Speaker 61
14:13
you don't mind, please, thank you. Yes, sir.
Chair
Unverified
14:17
Is there anything in the committee? If I could have a motion. Oh, okay. Excuse me. Senator Irvin is here. So we will run Senate Bill 218. Senator Irvin, if you would recognize yourself for your committee and you
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
14:38
are ready to proceed. Thank you so much. I appreciate the committee. I
appreciate you, Mr. Chair. Senate Bill 218 is just a bill that reduces paperwork for providers.
It helps patients get their prescription drugs faster, and it creates just a uniform prior authorization form. And basically it says that an insurance provider needs to provide one prior authorization form, not to exceed two pages, can be designed or should be designed to be submitted electronically. This does not prohibit over-the-phone prior authorizations, and it allows a 72-hour response. It is a bill that I've worked with Blue Cross Blue Shield, Qual Choice, and UnitedHealthcare,
which are three biggest providers in the state. So they've agreed to the bill, and I'd take any questions. Okay. Are there
Chair
Unverified
15:31
any questions of the committee? Okay. Seeing none, the chairman will go to the audience. Is there anyone here to
speak for or against the bill? Oh. Okay. All right. If not, we do have a question of the committee. Representative Copenhaver, you are recognized for a question.
Representative Harold Copenhaver
Unverified
15:47
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is this uniform questions across the board, or is it each individual company will design their own questionnaire?
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
15:53
Good question. And each company will design their own form. So there will probably be some, there's definitely, if you look at them, you want their fax number right across the top, so it's easy to fax it right in. It will have different questions depending on how they design it. But we leave that up to the decision of the insurance company themselves. And so it's a two-page form, is that correct? Correct. Okay. Thank you very much. You're
Speaker 66
16:12
welcome. Okay, are there any other questions to
Chair
Unverified
16:18
the committee? Senator Irvin, are you close for your bill? Yeah, I just
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
16:23
want to show you this is a binder with all the different forms.
And there are some companies that have one form. There are some companies that have multiple forms. So QualChoice, I have to brag about QualChoice because it really will not change anything that they're doing because they have one form. So there are already companies doing this, and we're just trying to make it consistent to help our providers and our patients. Okay. Appreciate
Chair
Unverified
16:47
a good vote. Thank you, Senator Urban. Representative Wilkins, you are recognized for a motion. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had the benefit of sitting in on the Senate end when this bill was presented
and heard the discussion, so I'd like to move do pass. All right. That's a proper motion,
Representative Wilkins. Committee, we have a motion do pass on Senate Bill 218. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Senator Irvin, you passed your bill. Thank you so very much. Thank you, committee, for
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
17:15
your indulgence. Thank you, committee. I think that
Chair
Unverified
17:18
is all we have got today. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Okay. Thank you. We are adjourned.
Agenda
SB339
SB271
HB1672
SB462
SB218
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Speaker 1
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 9
Speaker 11
Speaker 13
Speaker 3
Representative Terry Rice
Unverified
Speaker 22
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
Speaker 29
Speaker 30
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Representative Mark Biviano Chair
Unverified
Speaker 39
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
Speaker 25
Speaker 61
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Representative Harold Copenhaver
Unverified
Speaker 66