H. B. 3087
(By Delegates Perdue, Hatfield, Williams, Boggs,
Wells, Paxton, Martin, Caputo,
Longstreth, Manchin and Palumbo)
[Introduced March 17, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Banking and Insurance then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §33-2-21, relating to
the Insurance Commissioner; stating legislative findings;
directing Commissioner to study ways to establish a program
for purchasing health insurance benefits for uninsured
workers; and requiring report of findings, recommendations and
conclusions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §33-2-21, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. INSURANCE COMMISSIONER.
§33-2-21. Program for purchasing health insurance benefits for
uninsured workers.
(a) The Legislature finds that:
(1) One in five adults in West Virginia has no health insurance benefit;
(2) More than two thirds of these uninsured citizens work full
time or are dependent on others who do;
(3) Lack of employment-based group health insurance benefits
forces families and individuals to forego necessary medical
treatment, ultimately resulting in the need for more intensive and
costly services in the future because of the increased severity of
an untreated condition, often at public expense due to bad debt and
uncompensated care;
(4) The health of our state's economy is directly related to
the health of our workers; and
(5) It is in the public interest and promotes the general
welfare of our state for workers and their families to have access
to and be able to afford health insurance coverage.
(b) The Commissioner is hereby directed to study ways to cover
uninsured workers and their families through a plan whereby:
(1) Employers who do not otherwise provide group health
insurance benefits to their workers and dependents would be
assessed an amount sufficient to provide a percentage of the
premium cost of covering those employees and dependents and
employers who do provide such coverage would be exempt;
(2) Employers would be classified and pay a specified rate
according to the size of their workforce, rates of employee
participation and/or the amount of their payroll in this state;
(3) Workers would contribute a percentage of the premium cost
for their coverage; and
(4) Subsidies funded by the assessment on employers who do not
provide health insurance benefits to their workers would be made
available to participating workers on a sliding scale based on
coverage selected and income level.
The Commissioner shall also study potential participation
rates, cost estimates and the amounts that employers and workers
would each need to pay in order to achieve a viable product with
affordable rates and reasonable coverage.
(c) The Commissioner is further directed to report his or her
findings, conclusions and recommendations to the Joint Committee on
Government and Finance on or before the first day of September, two
thousand five.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to direct the Insurance
Commissioner to study and report on ways to establish a program for
insuring uninsured workers.
§33-2-21 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.