Committee approves Farm Bureau-style nonprofit agricultural health benefit plan after multiple amendments

Representative Faulkner, sponsor of House Bill 477, told the House Health Committee the measure would create a nonprofit agricultural health benefit option intended to lower health-care costs for farmers and small business owners. After extensive debate and several amendments the committee voted to give the bill a favorable report as amended.

Faulkner said 10 other states have enacted similar options and that those plans can reduce health-care costs by 30% to 60% in some instances. He told members the bill had been revised repeatedly following conversations with interested parties and hospital representatives.

Committee members considered multiple amendments during the session. Representative Hogue Jones’s amendment (KHZMWUUDash1) clarified that policies must be sold by an insurance producer licensed to sell accident and health insurance in Alabama; the committee adopted that as a…