The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday passed a bill that would exclude compensation paid for licensed independent insurance producers from the premium portion of the medical loss ratio calculation.
H.R. 1206, the Access to Professional Health Insurance Advisors Act of 2011, seeks to counteract what many brokers see as a large negative of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – the MLR provision, which, says the National Association of Health Underwriters, is “having a devastating financial impact on the country's approximately half-million licensed professional health insurance agents and brokers, their employees and millions of their employer and individual clients.”
NAHU says that while they agree with the goal of providing consumers with more value for health care dollars spent, “the PPACA MLR requirements significantly and negatively impact access to health insurance agents and brokers, at the very time our economy and healthcare consumers need the most help.”
A companion bill in the Senate was referred to committee in April and remains stalled there. Yet, NAHU remains optimistic. "The bipartisan measure already has 221 co-sponsors in the House and a companion bill in the Senate (S. 2288). NAHU looks forward to its continued work with policy makers on this important bipartisan effort."
The House bill moves to the the chamber, which goes on recess in two weeks, returning after the 2012 election.
