Commissioner Michael Thurmond presented information to the Committee about the State’s economic situation. Since the recession commenced in March, Georgia has experienced a 4.2% unemployment rate. There are currently 92,000 Georgians receiving unemployment insurance, which is an 80% increase over this time last year. Typically, a person receives approximately 8.2 to 9.2 weeks of unemployment. In some instances, workers will ask for the thirteen additional weeks of "extended" benefits. Commissioner Thurmond urged the General Assembly Members to place dollars in the budget for training and retraining of workers in an effort to spur the economy. Commissioner Thurmond also noted that 46 new nurses graduated this morning from Kennesaw University, but that in no way helped alleviate the grave number of healthcare workforce shortages that Georgia has been experiencing.

Amy Atkinson, with the Department of Insurance, spoke on behalf of Commissioner Oxendine. The Department of Insurance will be focusing its legislative efforts in 2002 on SB 177, a bill introduced in 2001 concerning off shore surplus lines of insurance. Additionally, Ms. Atkinson noted that the legislation was extremely important in the wake of September 11 as property and casualty forms of insurance were becoming more costly. The Department will also pursue two bills on viatical settlements, HB 883 and SB 235. SB 235, which was introduced by Secretary of State Cox, will assist the Secretary of State in combating fraud and help prevent investors from being victimized. The only new piece of legislation mentioned is the bill on dealing with property and casualty risks due to "credit scoring." This bill, per Ms. Atkinson, will require certain disclosures be made to consumers and will have a process once appeals have been denied (if the denial is based on credit scoring).

Cathey Steinberg, the State’s Consumer’s Insurance Advocate, also presented her agenda for the 2002 Session. Ms. Steinberg noted that her office is still receiving a fair number of healthcare complaints, but there has been an increase in calls dealing with homeowner’s and car insurance issues. She cited that such have risen 47%. Ms. Steinberg further stated that the number of complaints her office has received about the State Health Benefit Plan have dropped (although there are still access and claims dissatisfaction concerns). The healthcare calls deal with persons’ inability to get group insurance, problems associated with pre-existing conditions, individuals gaining access to policies, and costs for products. Ms. Steinberg told the Committee that part of the problems with healthcare insurance pertain to rate increases. There are also continuing network issues reported – citing access to specialists and payments of higher copayments. Additionally, persons complain about "hidden providers," which are physicians that are not included in a network yet render patient care in an in-network facility (these are sometimes the radiologists or anesthesiologists which have exclusive contracts with the facility).

As for legislation Ms. Steinberg will push this coming Session, there are a number of targets:

1) The bill relating to cancellation of policies, HB 750, will be pursued in addition to HB 169. The cancellation issue arises when payment by the employer of the premium is not made. Thus, the insurance company cancels the policy. The bill will require the insurance plan to not only notify the employer of its intention to cancel but also mail such notice to each employee.

2) The "consumer protection" bill will also be pursued, which requires that plans offer 24/7 pre-authorization and pre-certification of procedures. Under this legislation, if a service is pre-certified for the patient, a health plan cannot deny it subsequently. Ms. Steinberg noted that many providers, hospitals and consumers had complained about such practices. Many think that if there is verification of insurance then the procedure is a covered service when in some instances such is not the case.

3) Exclusionary contracting initiatives will also be pursued. These include HB 102 and SB 148.

4) Regulation of discount insurance plans will also be pursued (this includes services such as dental and vision care).

5) Small group rate protection is also of interest.

6) Prompt payment of insurance claims also continues to be an issue. Definition of a "clean" claim and what should be paid within 15 days.

Commissioner Tim Burgess also made some remarks to the Committee on behalf of the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety. This new Department went into effect in July 2001, but legislation, passed in 2000, required the creation of a database in an effort to provide police with a mechanism to track insurance verification. Currently, once a person is stopped by a police officer, the presentation of an insurance card is proof of insurance. Under this new law, such will not be sufficient. Commissioner Burgess reported that the January 1, 2002 deadline, to have the database operational for the verification of insurance, is not possible. He explained that the Department needed an additional ten to twelve months because it is currently impossible to match insurance with the driver’s license file. Rather, the solution will rest in allowing police to track the car tag database. The legislation creating this database requirement was SB 69. Sen. Sam Roberts, author of the bill, has since died, and it has been difficult for Commissioner Burgess to understand what is being required and what the database is to solve. Sen. Robert Lamutt challenged Commissioner Burgess claiming that he had constructed databases and felt that this was something that could be done.

Sen. Harbison reported on SB 148, the bill dealing with exclusionary hospital contracting introduced by Sen. Tom Price in response to the insurance market in North Fulton County whereby North Fulton Hospital was held hostage by Northside Hospital. Hearings on the legislation were held over the summer in Atlanta, Macon, and Columbus. Sen. Harbison explained that there had been good turnout at each of the hearings. His Subcommittee learned that this "exclusionary hospital contracting" was not found solely in the Atlanta area but also in Macon and Columbus. Further, such practices do not solely occur in private insurance contracting but also with the State’s insurance plans. The Atlanta problem is almost resolved, but the Macon and Columbus situations continue to be unresolved. Thus, Sen. Harbison believes that the Senate will continue to work on a resolution. Additionally, with respect to the State Health Benefit Plan, he noted that access is a major concern.