In an effort to thwart successful enrollment in the new health insurance program, a state senator has introduced legislation requiring Marketplace Navigators to be certified by the state’s attorney general before they can advise consumers about the new health care program. MISSOURI tried similar legislation, but a U.S. District Judge barred it in late January. The judge ruled the legislation attempted to “obstruct the Affordable Care Act with unnecessary and burdensome requirements.”
Such certification would not only require criminal background and credit checks but also require Navigators to pay a hefty fee.
For reasons unexplained, the legislation applies only to Navigators, and not to health insurance representatives selling conventional plans.
State Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, R-Shawnee, proposes the punitive legislation in Senate Bill 362, titled the Health Care Insurance Navigator Registration Act.
State Attorney General Derek Schmidt is her partner in crime.
The bill’s targets are the poor and the medically “outcast” — those who previously have been denied health insurance because of a pre-existing medical condition such as heart disease.
To date, 75 percent of Kansans who have enrolled with the new health insurance program qualify for federal subsidies to help pay health insurance premiums. The other 25 percent have the income to pay for their plans in full.
The legislation also requires Navigators to be bonded, a certification process that protects against loss of money, most notably, by theft, by those who handle funds. Navigators don’t handle payments, any more than any insurance representative does.
Pilcher-Cook maintains the legislation is necessary because of a Navigator in Lawrence who was wanted by authorities because of outstanding debts, ironically, for medical bills. The outreach worker had racked up more than $5,000 in medical expenses and was unable to pay.
Pilcher-Cook says the legislation will help screen for such criminals.
As chairman of the Public Health and Welfare Committee, Pilcher-Cook can bring forth such legislation. Members of the committee will debate the measure Tuesday morning.
In the Kansas bill, Pilcher-Cook admitted a legal challenge could be expected, and suggested $75,000 be included for such defense. The bill also would require about $40,000 in annual expenditures to pay for a part-time position, rent and operating expenditures.
This one bit of legislation is why the public has become increasingly suspect of government. It’s punitive, it’s unnecessary and it’s wasteful.
Senate Bill 362 is nothing more than thinly disguised prejudice against the poor and the medically outcast.
If you feel so inclined, write your legislators today to tell them you can see through this smokescreen and that SB 362 does nothing to protect, and everything to neglect, the people of Kansas.
— Susan Lynn
Legislation nothing but a smokescreen to discrimination
