House Bill 1002 (Civil Immunity Related to COVID-19), authored by Rep. Jerry Torr (R-Carmel), finally cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee (7-1) after three weeks of work on an amendment by Sen. Mark Messmer (R-Jasper) that would get the legislation in shape to pass. The bill protects health care providers from professional discipline for certain acts or omissions in response to COVID-19. It also prohibits filing a class action lawsuit against political subdivisions and postsecondary educational institutions for a loss arising out of COVID in a contract or implied contract. The bill now moves to the Senate floor for second reading; it is expected to pass the Senate.
House Bill 1434 (Nonemergency Ambulance Service and Physician Order), authored by Rep. Beau Baird (R-Greencastle), was amended this week by Sen. Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso) to remove language that requires ambulance service providers to submit cost data to the Family and Social Services Administration and report to the Legislative Council before December 1. This is the language that the Indiana Chamber specifically testified in favor of; therefore, with that portion of the bill removed, we have changed our position to neutral and will only monitor this legislation for future second reading amendments. It is uncertain what Rep. Baird will do with the amended version when it returns to the House.
Senate Bill 143 (Pharmacy Benefit Managers), authored by Sen. Andy Zay (R- Huntington), was held for one week and included several more amendments offered by Rep. Matt Lehman (R-Berne) and Rep. Terri Austin (D-Anderson), which in our opinion really don’t make the bill that much better. The Chamber-opposed bill still would bring more regulation on pharmacy benefit managers and that may ultimately drive up health plan prescription drugs costs. The bill ended up passing the House Ways and Means Committee unanimously this week. It will inevitably pass the House and return to the Senate for concurrence or dissent. Industry representatives are focusing on SB 131 language, which was amended into HB 1405 (see below).
House Bill 1405 (Insurance Matters), authored by Rep. Matt Lehman (R-Berne), is what is annually termed the Department of Insurance legislation. This week, it was amended in the Senate Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee to include language from SB 131 (Disclosures Related to Prescription Drugs) from Sen. Mike Bohachek (R-Michigan City). This language requires health plans to disclose maximum allowable costs of drugs at the point of sale to covered individuals. For any health plan that hasn’t passed along at least 85% of its rebate to a policyholder’s cost sharing requirement, a pharmacy benefit manager must provide explanation to what a rebate is, how rebates accrue to the plan from the manufacturer and the aggregate amounts of rebates accrued for the plan from the previous year.
These requirements are silly and do nothing to lower costs and may in fact drive them up because of the cost of these notifications. We will be opposing the bill, but it is doubtful that we will be able to stop this portion from passing for the second time in the Senate. (The original SB 131 is still alive but has not been heard in the House). We will urge Rep. Lehman and Rep. Martin Carbaugh (R-Fort Wayne) to dissent on HB 1405 and remove the language in conference committee.
Resource: Mike Ripley at (317) 264-6883 or email: mripley@indianachamber.com
