H. B. 4665
(By Delegates Linch, Varner, Hutchins and Fleischauer)
[Introduced February 27, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections nine and eighteen, article
sixteen, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating
to the public employees insurance agency; requiring employee
premiums to be deducted bimonthly; and granting the director
discretion to negotiate premium fees with health care
provider groups.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections nine and eighteen, article sixteen, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 16. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES INSURANCE ACT.
§5-16-9. Authorization to execute contracts for group hospital
and surgical insurance, group major medical insurance, group prescription drug insurance, group life and accidental death insurance and other
accidental death insurance; mandated benefits;
limitations; awarding of contracts; reinsurance;
certificates for covered employees; discontinuance of contracts.
(a) The director is hereby given exclusive authorization to
execute such contract or contracts as are necessary to carry out
the provisions of this article and to provide the plan or plans
of group hospital and surgical insurance coverage, group major
medical insurance coverage, group prescription drug insurance
coverage and group life and accidental death insurance coverage
selected in accordance with the provisions of this article, such
contract or contracts to be executed with one or more agencies,
corporations, insurance companies or service organizations
licensed to sell group hospital and surgical insurance, group
major medical insurance, group prescription drug insurance and
group life and accidental death insurance in this state.
(b) The group hospital or surgical insurance coverage and
group major medical insurance coverage herein provided for shall
include coverages and benefits for X ray and laboratory services
in connection with mammograms and pap smears when performed for
cancer screening or diagnostic services and annual checkups for
prostate cancer in men age fifty and over. Such benefits shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) Baseline or other recommended mammograms for women age
thirty-five to thirty-nine, inclusive;
(2) Mammograms recommended or required for women age forty
to forty-nine, inclusive, every two years or as needed;
(3) A mammogram every year for women age fifty and over;
(4) A pap smear annually or more frequently based on the
woman's physician's recommendation for women age eighteen and
over; and
(5) A checkup for prostate cancer annually for men age fifty
or over.
(c) The group life and accidental death insurance herein
provided for shall be in the amount of ten thousand dollars for
every employee. The amount of the group life and accidental
death insurance to which an employee would otherwise be entitled
shall be reduced to five thousand dollars upon such employee
attaining age sixty-five.
(d) All of the insurance coverage to be provided for under
this article may be included in one or more similar contracts
issued by the same or different carriers.
(e) The provisions of article three, chapter five-a of this
code, relating to the division of purchases of the department of
finance and administration, shall not apply to any contracts for
any insurance coverage or professional services authorized to be executed under the provisions of this article. Before entering
into any contract for any insurance coverage, as herein
authorized, said director shall invite competent bids from all
qualified and licensed insurance companies or carriers, who may
wish to offer plans for the insurance coverage desired
: Provided,
That the director may in his or her discretion negotiate and
contract with health care providers directly in order to secure
competitive premiums. The director shall deal directly with
insurers
or health care providers in presenting specifications
and receiving quotations for bid purposes. No commission or
finder's fee, or any combination thereof, shall be paid to any
individual or agent; but this shall not preclude an underwriting
insurance company or companies, at their own expense, from
appointing a licensed resident agent, within this state, to
service the companies' contracts awarded under the provisions of
this article. Commissions reasonably related to actual service
rendered for such agent or agents may be paid by the underwriting
company or companies:
Provided, however, That in no event shall
payment be made to any agent or agents when no actual services
are rendered or performed. The director shall award such
contract or contracts on a competitive basis. In awarding the
contract or contracts the director shall take into account the
experience of the offering agency, corporation, insurance company
or service organization in the group hospital and surgical insurance field, group major medical insurance field, group
prescription drug field and group life and accidental death
insurance field, and its facilities for the handling of claims.
In evaluating these factors, the director may employ the services
of impartial, professional insurance analysts or actuaries or
both. Any contract executed by the director with a selected
carrier shall be a contract to govern all eligible employees
subject to the provisions of this article. Nothing contained in
this article shall prohibit any insurance carrier from soliciting
employees covered hereunder to purchase additional hospital and
surgical, major medical or life and accidental death insurance
coverage.
(f) The director may authorize the carrier with whom a
primary contract is executed to reinsure portions of such
contract with other carriers which elect to be a reinsurer and
who are legally qualified to enter into a reinsurance agreement
under the laws of this state.
(g) Each employee who is covered under any such contract or
contracts shall receive a statement of benefits to which such
employee, his or her spouse and his or her dependents are
entitled thereunder, setting forth such information as to whom
such benefits shall be payable, to whom claims shall be
submitted, and a summary of the provisions of any such contract
or contracts as they affect the employee, his or her spouse and his or her dependents.
(h) The director may at the end of any contract period
discontinue any contract or contracts it has executed with any
carrier and replace the same with a contract or contracts with
any other carrier or carriers meeting the requirements of this
article.
(i) The director shall provide by contract or contracts
entered into under the provisions of this article the cost for
coverage of children's immunization services from birth through
age sixteen years to provide immunization against the following
illnesses: Diphtheria, polio, mumps, measles, rubella, tetanus,
hepatitis-b, haemophilus influenza-b and whooping cough.
Additional immunizations may be required by the commissioner of
the bureau of public health for public health purposes. Any
contract entered into to cover these services shall require that
all costs associated with immunization, including the cost of the
vaccine, if incurred by the health care provider, and all costs
of vaccine administration, be exempt from any deductible, per
visit charge and/or copayment provisions which may be in force in
these policies or contracts. This section does not require that
other health care services provided at the time of immunization
be exempt from any deductible and/or copayment provisions.
§5-16-18. Payment of costs by employer; schedule of insurance;
special funds created; duties of treasurer with respect thereto.
All employers operating from state general revenue or
special revenue funds or federal funds or any combination thereof
shall budget the cost of insurance coverage provided by the
public employees insurance agency to current and retired
employees of the employer as a separate line item, titled "PEIA",
in its respective annual budget and are responsible for the
transfer of funds to the director for the cost of insurance for
employees covered by the plan. Each spending unit shall pay to
the director its proportionate share from each source of funds.
Any agency wishing to charge general revenue funds for insurance
benefits for retirees under section thirteen of this article must
provide documentation to the director that the benefits cannot be
paid for by any special revenue account or that the retiring
employee has been paid solely with general revenue funds for
twelve months prior to retirement.
If the general revenue appropriation for any employer,
excluding county boards of education beginning the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, and thereafter, is
insufficient to cover the cost of insurance coverage for the
employer's participating employees, retired employees and
surviving dependents, the employer shall pay the remainder of the
cost from its "personal services" or "unclassified" line items.
Beginning the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, and thereafter, the amount of such payments for
county boards of education shall be determined by the method set
forth in section twenty-four, article nine-a, chapter eighteen of
this code:
Provided, That local excess levy funds shall be used
only for the purposes for which they were raised:
Provided,
however, That after approval of its annual financial plan, but in
no event later than the thirty-first day of December of each
year, the finance board shall notify the Legislature and county
boards of education of the maximum amount of employer premiums
that the county boards of education will be required to pay for
covered employees during the following fiscal year:
Provided
further, That the amount shall not exceed five million five
hundred thousand dollars during fiscal year one thousand nine
hundred ninety-four:
And provided further, That the amount shall
not exceed four million dollars during fiscal
year
one
thousand
nine
hundred
ninety-five.
All other employers not operating from the state general
revenue fund shall pay to the director their share of premium
costs from their respective budgets. The finance board shall
establish the employers' share of premium costs to reflect and
pay the actual costs of the coverage including incurred but not
reported claims.
The contribution of the other employers (namely: A county,
city or town) in the state; any separate corporation or instrumentality established by one or more counties, cities or
towns, as permitted by law; any corporation or instrumentality
supported in most part by counties, cities or towns; any public
corporation charged by law with the performance of a governmental
function and whose jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more
counties, cities or towns; any comprehensive community mental
health center or comprehensive mental retardation facility
established, operated or licensed by the secretary of health and
human resources pursuant to section one, article two-a, chapter
twenty-seven of this code, and which is supported in part by
state, county or municipal funds; and a combined city-county
health department created pursuant to article two, chapter
sixteen of this code for their employees shall be such percentage
of the cost of the employees' insurance package as the employers
deem reasonable and proper under their own particular
circumstances.
The employee's proportionate share of the premium or cost
shall be withheld or deducted by the employer from the employee's
salary or wages
as and when paid on a bimonthly basis and the
sums shall be forwarded to the director with such supporting data
as the director may require.
All moneys received by the public employees insurance agency
shall be deposited in a special fund or funds as are necessary
in the state treasury and the treasurer of the state shall be custodian of the fund or funds and shall administer the fund or
funds in accordance with the provisions of this article or as the
director may from time to time direct. The treasurer shall pay
all warrants issued by the state auditor against the fund or
funds as the director may direct in accordance with the
provisions of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require employee
deductions for PEIA insurance to occur bimonthly rather than
monthly. The bill further grants the director authority to
negotiate premium fees with health care provider groups.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.