Sen. Fischer Challenges CMS to Reimburse Policyholders
 Yesterday the Nebraska Department of Insurance issued a press release encouraging CoOportunity Health policyholders who have not yet replaced their health insurance to act immediately. Sunday, February 15,  is the last day for open enrollment.  "Enrolling into a new plan may be inconvenient and, in some cases, a financial burden because some policyholders may have already had medical bills applied to their annual deductible," the department said.  But a special enrollment will last for 60 days after a CoOportunity liquidation order is signed, probably on February 28, and when that expires, options for the purchase of individual health insurance may be limited. "It is questionable if any plans will be available at all because an insurer is not required to sell a policy to an individual outside of an open or special enrollment period," the department said.  Read Department release.

     On February 9, U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer joined Iowa's Senators in challenging the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to help stranded policyholders. "For constituents who have already paid thousands of dollars toward their deductible, it is simply not feasible for them to get a new plan and then have to pay thousands of dollars again toward the new deductible," the senators wrote. "As the agency tasked with reviewing, approving rates and funding co-ops, CMS has a responsibility to solve this problem."  They asked the administrator to respond by defining the agency's obligations and also offer a plan to reimburse insured clients if they choose a new health insurer. Read letter.

Last week, President Obama released his budget proposal that once again specifically targets the Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) for cuts. The budget proposes to slash insurance premium subsidies for farmers and payments made to private insurance carriers for administering the program. 
The Big "I" and several other crop insurance industry groups sent a joint letter to Senate and House leaders expressing strong opposition to the cuts and urging Congress to oppose the President's budget proposal. 

     The Big "I" also strongly opposes S. 345 , a bill introduced immediately following the budget release, by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) introduced S. 345, "to limit the level of premium subsidy provided by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to agricultural producers."   Read more.

     IIAN Board member Todd Anderson, with Cornerstone Insurance in York, serves on the IIABA national Crop Insurance Task Force, and will be representing IIAN members at the Big "I" National Legislative Conference in April, and visiting personally with Nebraska's Senators and Congressmen.