FLORIDA HEALTH INSURANCE BILLS
Update: Shaneen Wahl, who was instrumental in
changing Florida state law, is running for state representative. For more
information see Shaneen's Web site.
See articles below for a chronicle of Shaneen's work to change health
insurance laws in Florida.
Updates
April 21, 2001
April 27, 2001
May 2001
June 2001
Health insurance is one of the biggest challenges
full-timers face. Shaneen Wahl, a fellow RVer and a close friend of mine,
has battled increasing health insurance rates with American Medical
Security in her domicile state of Florida. In March (2001), she testified
in front of the Florida Senate and House of Representatives in an effort
to change the situation in her home state. Both the Senate and House voted
for the bills that will change this situation, but the bills must still
pass through a few more steps before they become law.
What has happened to Shaneen can just as easily
happen to you. She wrote the following to help us be more aware as
consumers.
The Death Spiral: Health Insurance & Out of State
Associations
I had no reason to know what the death spiral was
until after I had breast cancer and my health insurance premiums were
raised to $1,881 per MONTH. I recently testified before the Florida
Senate and the Florida House of Representatives.
A new (to me) trend in health insurance sales is
where Health Insurance Companies come into the marketplace and sell
low health insurance premiums. They then make above market premium
increases over the next several years. Then they implement the "DEATH
SPIRAL." This is an accounting maneuver to make their bottom
line look better. Here is how it works.
As premiums are collected, they go into the company's
liability column, since there is a potential that these funds will be used
to pay claims. The company then "closes a book of business" by
canceling a block of policies. The premiums that have been collected
over the years from the cancelled "book/block" of business then
moves from the insurance company's liability column to their asset
column. The policyholders are then told that if they re-apply they
will be guaranteed a new policy. The insured are then shifted to an
out-of-state association based group, which exempts the company from state
regulations in the state they are selling the insurance. The company
then doubles premiums.
The people who are well just go to another insurance
company for insurance. Those who have developed medical problems
during the time they were insured are forced to pay the usurious premiums
(which increase 60% per year thereafter) or are dumped into the state
high-risk pool. The state high-risk pool becomes overwhelmed, the
insurance company introduces a new insurance product to the market and the
cycle starts all over again.
I am a 51-year old early retiree (my husband is 61) We started 20+ years
ago to save and invest for our retirement and did a good job. When my
husband lost his executive position in the early 90's and was unable to
find a job that paid above entry level, we retired after careful scrutiny
by our financial planner. Ample funds for cost of living increases
and reserves for
catastrophic events were in place. But we sure weren't prepared for this
one.
Now with our health insurance situation we will
be forced to pay the high premiums and deplete our savings, go back to
work or become un-insured. If we were to opt for paying the high
premiums, we forecast that health insurance premiums will cost us upwards
of $300,000 until I am eligible for Medicare. Yes, I plan on living
that long.
The public shouldn't have to have a PHD in insurance
administration to know how to buy health insurance. The death spiral needs
to be exposed to the public.
I did a very effective job before the Senate and
House of Representatives. Below are the links for the newspaper articles
about the senate hearing and a link to Florida's Homepage if you want to
look up Senate bill 1210 or House bill 1439.
http://www.sptimes.com/News/032101/State/Senate_committee_move.shtml
http://www.sarasotaheraldtribune.com/headlinesstory2.cfm?ID=42377
http://www.sptimes.com/News/040101/Columns/Legislators_pass_conf.shtml
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Welcome/index.cfm
I ask you all to get creative and forward this to,
for instance, your hometown newspaper, health support groups, your
Uncle Marty who has nothing else to do except forward e-mails, local news
broadcasters, the President, your Senator and Representative.
Shaneen Wahl
tswahl@aol.com
CONSUMER ALERT: One way to know if you are dealing with an
insurance company that may use the Death Spiral on you is that they
require you to join an association which is based in a state other than
the state where you are buying your insurance.
Shaneen tells me she had a chance to visit with
Governor Jeb Bush regarding these bills and he was shocked. He will make
the final decision, so if you are a Florida resident, please contact him
and ask him to support these bills.
April 21, 2001
Here is an update from Shaneen:
The FL Senate did something that seemed impossible. They amazingly got
all of the unregulated health insurance companies to agree to be
regulated. (The Senate unanimously passed their groundbreaking bill no.
1210.) That is all companies except one-Golden Rule. Lobbyist for Golden
Rule convinced the FL
House of Representatives to "GUT" the Senate's bill and totally
eliminate any consumer protection by passing their bill no.1439. They said
they had one million policies in FL and that they would leave the state
causing a health insurance crisis by leaving those without insurance. That
would not be true. Instead they will expose those who develop a health
problem while being insured with them to be put in the same situation
as I am, totally unaffordable premiums. Insurance companies are
known to be big campaign contributors. I guess the FL House
wanted something other than consumer protection...I wonder what it was?
We need to have bill no. 1439 changed into a exact copy of the Senate
bill.
If you have one more burst of social conscience left in you, please
forward this to newspapers, radio, TV stations and/or friends.
April 27, 2001
Another newspaper article can be found at:
http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/042601/tp1ch8.htm?date=042601&sto
May 2001
An update from Shaneen:
The Bill was unanimously passed in the Florida Senate, but died in the
House of Representatives since it was not heard before the session ended. Lobbyist for the health insurance companies were very busy trying to kill
the bill and were successful. The House of Representatives didn't
even see fit to pass the portion of the Bill that would require all
applications for health insurance by out-of-state companies to contain a
disclosure statement warning of the lack of premium regulation. Insurance
companies are big campaign contributors and it certainly would appear that
the Representatives were more concerned about the contributions than
protecting the people of Florida.
A study group, which will meet over the summer, was created to examine the
impact of regulating these insurance companies. The Bill will be brought
up again next year by Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher.
More newspaper article links on this subject:
http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=20273650&ID=cnniw&scategory=Insurance%3AHealth
http://www.sun-herald.com/newsarchive2/042801/np9.htm
http://www.sptimes.com/News/042901/Columns/Tom_Feeney_s_dictator.shtml
http://www.mycfnow.com/orlpn/problemsolvers/stories/problemsolvers-75567920010504-150504.html
http://www.sarasotaheraldtribune.com/2news.cfm?ID=45269
June 2001
The Florida House and Senate have both called a special interim session
to investigate rate regulations.
Florida Commissioner of Insurance Tom Gallagher filed a lawsuit complaint against United Wisconsin
Life Insurance Co. of Green Bay, Wisconsin citing seven counts of unfair
trade practices and violations of Florida's insurance code. http://www.sun-herald.com/newsarchive2/060501/CH2.HTM?date=060501&story=
Contact Shaneen Wahl at TSWahl@aol.com
or 941-235-1520
