Committee hears testimony on bill to exempt Farm Bureau member health benefits from state insurance laws

The Ohio House Insurance Committee held a third hearing on House Bill 99 on a proposal that would allow nonprofit agricultural membership organizations to provide health care benefit coverage exempt from Ohio insurance laws; the committee accepted an amendment (AM-136-0363) clarifying that the coverage is not insurance and requiring written disclosures.

The amendment, offered by Representative Barhorst and accepted without objection, specifies that the health care benefit coverage provided by a nonprofit agricultural membership organization — rather than the organization itself — is exempt from state insurance laws and that applications and contracts must predominantly state the coverage is not insurance and is not subject to state insurance laws. The amendment also adds references to the Physician Health Plan Partnership Act and laws governing multiple-employer welfare arrangements to the list of statutes from which the coverage is exempted.

Proponent testimony came from Ben Sanders of Farm Bureau Health Plans in Tennessee,…