House committee hears testimony on bill to exempt Farm Bureau health benefits from state insurance laws

The Ohio House Insurance Committee on Wednesday took testimony on House Bill 99, which would exempt certain health benefit coverage provided through nonprofit agricultural membership organizations from state insurance laws. The committee accepted amendment AM-136-0363 without objection, a change that requires applications and member contracts to be in writing and to state that the coverage is not insurance.

The amendment clarifies that coverage provided by a nonprofit agricultural membership organization — rather than the organization itself — would be exempt from state insurance laws, and adds references to the physician health plan partnership act and the law governing multiple employer welfare arrangements to the statutory list of exemptions. The amendment was offered by Representative Barhorst and accepted by the committee at the start of the hearing.

Proponent Ben Sanders of Farm Bureau Health Plans in Tennessee said Farm Bureau plans serve a subset of people who lack employer-sponsored or subsidized marketplace…