Committee advances bill to let state plan drop ‘grandfathered’ status, prompting questions about cost and design

The Industry, Business and Labor Committee voted to give Senate Bill 2160 a “do pass” recommendation and referred the measure to the Appropriations Committee after a two‑hour discussion about costs, plan design and the PERS board’s authority.

Rebecca Frikey, Executive Director of the Public Employees Retirement System, told the committee SB 2160 would change PERS’s ability to move its health plan from a grandfathered product to a non‑grandfathered large‑employer design and stressed that certain federal rules the committee may associate with “essential health benefits” apply to the individual and small‑group market, not to large‑employer plans such as PERS. “Essential health benefits is a term that applies to the individual and small employer group market,” Frikey said, adding that the bill’s requirements are specific to large employer groups and that the Affordable Care Act’s large‑employer requirements use different statutory language and the “minimum value” standard.

The bill’s fiscal impact and how to pay for added benefits were the central…