HB 1545-FN – AS INTRODUCED
2010 SESSION
01/04
HOUSE BILL 1545-FN
AN ACT relative to group size for premiums charged by health insurance carriers when issuing small employer health coverage.
COMMITTEE: Commerce and Consumer Affairs
Under this bill, health insurance carriers may not use group size when determining premiums to be charged by health insurance carriers when issuing small employer health coverage.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
10-2282
01/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT relative to group size for premiums charged by health insurance carriers when issuing small employer health coverage.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Health Insurance Coverage; Premium Rates. Amend RSA 420-G:4, I(e)(1) to read as follows:
(1) In establishing the premium rates, health carriers offering coverage to small employers may use only age[, group size,] and industry classification as case characteristics. No consideration shall be given to health status, claim experience, duration of coverage, geographic location, or any other characteristic of the group.
2 Health Insurance Coverage; Rating Practice. Amend RSA 420-G:12, IV to read as follows:
IV. Each health carrier shall provide, at the time it gives a premium quote to a group, a rating disclosure form that identifies the health coverage plan rate and any adjustments to that rate resulting from the application of rating factors, including age[,] and industry[, and group size]. The health carrier shall submit the rate disclosure form to the department for approval. Health carriers shall provide their insureds with renewal premium quotes at least 60 days prior to the expiration date of the policy.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2011.
LBAO
10-2282 11/24/09
HB 1545-FN - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to group size for premiums charged by health insurance carriers when issuing small employer health coverage.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Insurance Department states this bill may decrease state revenue by an indeterminable amount in FY 2012 and each thereafter and have an indeterminable fiscal impact on county and local expenditures in FY 2011 and each year thereafter. The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill may have an indeterminable fiscal impact on local expenditures. The New Hampshire Association of Counties states this bill will have no fiscal impact on county expenditures or revenue. There is no fiscal impact on county and local revenue or state expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Insurance Department states this bill eliminates group size as a permissible case characteristic (e.g. underwriting factor) for carriers pricing health insurance sold to small employers. The Department states employers who had previously received a discount for group size may opt to self-fund which would result in a decrease in premium tax revenue. The Department states to the extent county and local governments are rated as a small employer, they would realize changes, if any, in their rates in FY 2011.
The New Hampshire Municipal Association states the fiscal impact of this legislation on municipalities is indeterminable.
The New Hampshire Association of Counties states none of the counties meet the definition of small employer; therefore this bill will have no fiscal impact on county expenditures and revenue.