Senate Finance reviews bill to require annual reporting by health-care sharing plans

S.132, an act that would require annual reporting by health-care sharing plans and arrangements, received its first detailed review at the Senate Finance Committee on April 2. The measure would add a new section to Title 8, Chapter 107, obliging persons who offer plans or arrangements to facilitate payment or reimbursement of health-care costs for Vermont residents — but who are not licensed insurers — to submit prescribed data to the commissioner by Oct. 1 of the year and again on or after March 1 each year thereafter.

The change is intended to give regulators a baseline picture of who is operating these programs, how many Vermonters participate, what requests for reimbursement look like, and how often claims are denied. “This is an act relating to annual reporting on health care sharing plans and arrangements,” said Jen Carvey of the Office of Legislative Counsel while outlining the bill’s required fields, which include participant counts, provider contracts, total fees collected, amounts retained for administration, counts and dollar values of reimbursement requests and payments made, denials and appeals, and lists of third-party enrollers and producers.

Why it matters:…