Committee advances amended insurance bill, adds private reimbursement for mobile integrated health

The Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee voted 8-0 to advance an amended House Bill 15-87 after members removed and delayed several contested provisions.

The measure, presented by Representative James Carbaugh, would allow mobile integrated health providers to bill and be reimbursed by a payor for nonemergency runs, repeal a requirement that health insurers hold a public forum, exempt the National Insurance Crime Bureau from a data-transparency notification requirement, extend the target date for the Indiana Public Employers Plan (IPEP) to convert to a reciprocal insurance company to December 2030, and give the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) authority to void certain managed-care reimbursement agreements that would adversely affect Medicaid spending.

Representative James Carbaugh, the bill's sponsor, summarized the package as "several provisions in this bill," and said the mobile integrated health reimbursement provision "is something we were trying to work on last year" and that the compromise on that item "helped the two sides come together." Carbaugh also described the employer-group-size change, saying insurers would be allowed to choose a qualifying method called full-time equivalent but could not switch methods repeatedly.

Committee members added three amendments before the final vote. Senator Gaskell offered Amendment 10 to remove pages 9–12 and most of page 8 because "we didn't have agreement of all the stakeholders and we're gonna take another year to work on it." Amendment 9 repealed provisions related to mortgage and real-estate transaction data collection (described in committee testimony as repealing a state database no longer used by regulators). Amendment 11 extended the time allowed for an administrative rule to be promulgated to implement earlier legislation.

Elizabeth Berg of the Indiana Land Title Association testified in support of repealing the database provisions, saying the data collection "was implemented after the great recession" and is no longer used; she said regulators contacted by the association confirmed they were not using the database. Marty Wood of the Insurance Institute and other witnesses — including Ryan Ritchie (representing the city of Crawfordsville), Bill Elliott (AIM), and Amber Marr (AARP Indiana) — voiced support for the mobile integrated health reimbursement and other amendments during testimony.

The committee recorded a roll-call vote on the amended bill. Senators recorded on the roll were: Randolph (Yes), Kodurra (Yes), Walker (Yes), Gaskell (Yes), Schmidt (Aye), Freeman (Aye), Crasco (Aye), Alting (Excused). Chairman Baldwin recorded his vote as aye. The committee chair announced the result as "8 to 0" and said, "Your bill moves to Floor 80."

The bill now proceeds to the full chamber. Committee members said additional language and amendments will likely be required on the House side before final passage.

Notes: testimony occurred on the record during the committee hearing; the committee removed several contested sections before advancing the bill and explicitly deferred further stakeholder work on those provisions.