MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - During the time Columbia's Dennis Drane was undergoing colon cancer treatment, he lost his health insurance after his wife became unemployed.
She is employed again, but Drane must wait 12 months to qualify for health insurance coverage because he has a preexisting medical condition. "I'm uninsurable and uninsured," said Drane, who is an insurance agent.
He told a Missouri House committee his story Tuesday night as he testified in support of a bill that would implement greater accessibility to health care. The Consumer Protection Committee heard several bills that would put into action a federal mandate that Congress passed in August.
The Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is now in the hands of each state's lawmakers who have the authority to decide exactly how they will enact it. The bipartisan act is better known as the Kassebaum-Kennedy Act, a nickname stemming from its sponsors, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. and former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan.
Missouri lawmakers' proposals differ to varying degrees, but all guarantee "portability" for most workers who change or lose their jobs. That means they have the option to continue purchasing their health insurance policy. The Kassebaum-Kennedy Act also uniformly prohibits health insurance providers from dropping patients if they become ill or from imposing an insurance waiting period of more than 12 months for new employees who have a preexisting medical condition.
"Nothing in Kennedy-Kassebaum forces states to do anything for people who are uninsured," said Jay Angoff, director of the state Department of Insurance.
States have the option of enacting the act as is, or they can modify to serve their specific needs by submitting an "acceptable alternative mechanism" to the federal government.
"Some of these alternatives would only apply to people with prior group coverage," Angoff said of the six implementation options he presented to the lawmakers. "Some of them apply to everyone."
He cited New Jersey as a state that has chosen to make health insurance available to more people with mixed results.
"Premiums went up for young, healthy people," Angoff said. "On the other hand, there has been a net gain of 100,000 of previously uninsured (people.)"
None of the bills that have been submitted take the Kassebaum-Kennedy Act to that extreme, however.
"It's not a panacea as far as solving all our health care ills in the state," said Rep. Scott Lakin, D-Kansas City, a sponsor of one of the implementation bills. "But, it's a step in the right direction to close the gap."