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Won major healthcare reform that will lower premiums for small business owners who provide medical care for their employees and puts it within financial reach of those who don’t.

Small business owners who currently can’t afford to provide healthcare for their employees—more than half, on a national average—just received a heap of great news that will make it easier for them to do so. No organization or association has more knowledge on this issue than NFIB, because its members have ranked affordable healthcare their No. 1 concern for more than two decades. So it was only natural NFIB/Utah would take a part in shepherding passage of 2^nd Substitute House Bill 188 through its committee hearings, floor votes, and on to Gov. Jon Huntsman’s desk. In brief, this historic healthcare reform will:

Allow insurers to offer lower-cost health insurance products to the individual and small employer group markets that do not include certain state mandates which drive the price of premiums up
Create a lower-cost Utah NetCare Plan alternative to federal COBRA and state mini-COBRA plans
Require health-insurance brokers and producers to disclose their commissions and compensations to customers prior to selling a health plan
Provide for the creation of an Internet Portal and orders the Insurance Department to include in its annual market report a summary of the types of plans sold through the Portal
Establishment a defined-contribution arrangement on the Portal that will be available to small employer groups on Jan. 1, 2010 and larger groups Jan. 1, 2012
Give a wider range of choices of health plans for everyone by Jan. 1, 2012
Amend the timing required by hospitals for sending billing information to patients
Create a demonstration project and establish a committee for innovating the payment and delivery of healthcare
Require health benefit plans to issue to enrollees a printed card containing health plan information
Require health benefit plans to provide information sufficient for a health care provider to determine the compensation or payment terms for healthcare services
Provide greater transparency on plan benefits, provider-networks, wellness programs, claim-payment practices and solvency ratings. When everything is up and running, individuals and small business owners alike will be able to log on to the Portal and compare every health plan feature and enroll in the one they like.

More information on this legislation is available at http://le.utah.gov/~2009/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0188S02.htm

Won new law simplifying healthcare information between consumer, provider, and insurer, which will eventually lead to swipe-card technology.

NFIB also helped pass another healthcare reform law, House Bill 165, that requires the Insurance Department to convene a group of providers and payers in order to establish standards for the electronic exchange of health plan information using card swipe technology which is compatible with national electronic standards. This bill prohibits an insurer from requiring less than one business day’s notice of an emergency in-patient hospital admission and amends the period of time in which an insurer can recover an amount paid to a health care provider when the insurer determines the payment was incorrect. http://le.utah.gov/~2009/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0188S02.htm

Won passage of a joint resolution of the Utah State Legislature preserving the right to vote in secret on union elections.

NFIB played a key role in passage of 1^st Substitute House Joint Resolution 8, which proposes to amend the Utah Constitution to include elections under state or federal law for public office, on an initiative or referendum, or to designate or authorize employee representation or individual representation among the elections that are required to be by secret ballot. This resolution will be on the November 2010 ballot. http://le.utah.gov/~2009/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HJR008S01.htm

Defeated all attempts to raise taxes in order to plug the state’s $1 billion deficit.

Facing a $1 billion deficit in the state budget, the temptation was great, but NFIB succeeded in discouraging legislators from raising taxes on businesses in Utah. As a result, not a single tax increase passed.

Helped win new law adding local entities to the Utah Public Finance Web site, so the public can better track where their tax money goes.

NFIB pushed for passage of 1^st Substitute Senate Bill 18, requiring local entities to participate in the Utah Public Finance Website. By making the public financial information available on the Internet for participating state entities and participating local entities, the Utah Public Finance Website allows taxpayers the ability to view, understand, and track the use of their dollars

Won major healthcare reform that will lower premiums for small business owners who provide medical care for their employees and puts it within financial reach of those who don’t.